Major attracts record ratings

Charles Ingram today reacted with anger to the screening of Millionaire: A Major Fraud, labelling the show "unfair".

He said: "We wanted a chance to give our views on that programme but weren't given the chance.

"It seems unfair that they were showing it under the banner of 'You the Nation Decides' without giving us a fair crack of the whip. In time we will get that chance."

College lecturer Tecwen Whittockafter watching the programme, said: "All my coughs were caused by an allergic reaction so any which corresponded with the right answers was merely a coincidence. But half of my coughs, at least, corresponded with nothing."

The show attracted the biggest audience for a factual show since the funeral of Diana, Princess Of Wales in 1997.

ITV's Tonight special, A Major Fraud, had an average of 15.1 million viewers, peaking at 16.7 million in its final half-hour, according to unofficial overnight figures.

That beats the Tonight edition Living With Michael Jackson which drew an overnight audience of 14.1 million. And it beat groundbreaking 1999 BBC1 documentary series Walking With Dinosaurs which drew around 15 million viewers.