Almost 17 Million Tune In For Millionaire Cheat

Almost 17 million viewers tuned into ITV1 last night to watch the highly publicised documentary about the convicted Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? cheats.

According to unofficial overnight figures from BARB, A Major Fraud, drew an average audience of 15.1 million, helping ITV1 to attract 55.9% of the available television audience between 9pm and 10.30pm last night.

The show was fronted by Martin Bashir and featured previously unseen footage of Charles Ingram’s performance on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?. It peaked with an impressive 16.7 million viewers and commanded a 61.6% audience share, in what is thought to be a record for a factual programme on ITV1.

A Major Fraud easily beat-off competition from BBC1, which screened the the final part of crime drama, Final Demand. The programme, which starred ex-EastEnders actress, Tamzin Outhwaite, peaked with 4.6 million viewers and achieved an average audience of 4.4 million.

Media commentators have suggested the trial of Major Ingram, his wife Diana and another contestant, Tecwen Whittock, has provided Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? with a great deal of free publicity, due to the huge amount of press interest in the trial.

The popularity of last night’s documentary follows the recent success of Living With Michael Jackson – A Tonight Special, which drew an average audience of 14.1 million and provided ITV1 with a 51.3% audience share (see Michael Jackson Attracts 14 Million To ITV1).

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