Daily Mail - 17.08.2019

Page 12

From yesterday’s MailFrom yesterday’s Mail

Kirstie: Friends of mine take

cocaine and I’m so ashamed

county lines drugs dealing and the

damage done to very young peo-

ple, do they feel totally s*** about

themselves or do they just think

roll on legalisation? I’m not talking

about addicts, you’re not an addict

when you do a couple of lines every

now and then.’

Earlier this year, Britain’s most

senior police officer agreed that

middle-class drug users ‘have

blood on their hands’ over the

spate of violent gangland killings.

Discussing the link between drug

use and stabbings in London, Met

Police commissioner Cressida

Dick said there was ‘misery’

throughout the drug supply trail

and a direct link between sub-

stance abuse and violence.

She said: ‘There is this challenge

that there are a whole group of

middle-class – or whatever you

want to call them – people who

will sit round... happily think

about global warming and fair

trade, and environmental protec-

tion and all sorts of things, organic

food, but think there is no harm in

taking a bit of cocaine.

‘Well, there is; there’s misery

throughout the supply chain.’

Last year, there were 4,

deaths from drug poisoning in

England and Wales, nearly 3,

of them a direct result of abuse of

said: ‘Everybody wants cocaine.

Middle-class and middle-aged

people like to use it and it really

doesn’t do them any favours. Some

people use it as an anti-depres-

sant, and it is not a good anti-

depressant. For older people, using

cocaine is like putting a super-

charged engine in a Ford Anglia.’

At the same time, there has been

a spread in drug gangs operating

out of cities and into provinces via

‘county lines’. Such cases are a

growing issue, with vulnerable

young people being targeted to

move and sell narcotics.

Miss Allsopp is famously open

about her views on traditional

social mores. Last year she

revealed on Channel 5’s Jeremy

Vine show that she smashed her

children’s iPads after they failed

to stick to her rules on screen

time. However, not everyone

agreed with her approach to disci-

pline, with many branding the

move a ‘waste’ on Twitter.

Rebuke: Kirstie Allsopp

KIRSTIE Allsopp has condemned

casual drug users for taking

cocaine after a record number of

lives were claimed last year.

The TV presenter, 47, even admitted

some of her own friends take drugs on

a ‘regular basis’ with little thought for

the support it gives violent criminals.

It comes as a major report found that a

cocaine binge among the middle class

drove the toll of drug poisoning deaths to

a record level last year.

Criticising casual drug users on Twitter,

the mother of four wrote: ‘When people

who take drugs on a regular basis, friends

of mine amongst them, see the horror of

By Alisha Rouse

Showbusiness Correspondent

NEW TV DRAMA

Who wants

to play a

millionaire?

Star-studded TV drama

about Coughing Major

REAL COUPLE

Winning

moment:

Charles Ingram

with Chris

Tarrant in 2001

THE Who Wants To Be A

Millionaire? cheating scan-

dal is being turned into a

television drama starring

Michael Sheen and Mat-

thew Macfadyen.

Spooks actor Macfadyen

will play Charles Ingram, the

former Army major who

conned his way to the top

prize in the ITV quiz show in

2001, while Sheen is host

Chris Tarrant.

Ingram was accused of con-

spiring with his wife Diana,

played by Fleabag’s Sian

which yesterday issued the

first image from the produc-

tion, showing Macfadyen

and Miss Clifford as the

Ingrams in court.

It is directed by Stephen

Frears, whose credits include

A Very English Scandal and

The Queen, and is based on

the play Quiz by Jamie Gra-

ham. The playwright said: ‘I

was gripped by this story

over 15 years ago, and I’m

still gripped now. It’s a very

English heist.’

Tarrant has previously

described the notorious inci-

dent as ‘a very cynical plan,

motivated by sheer greed’.

Ingram’s £1million question

was: ‘A number 1 followed by

100 zeros is known by what

name?’ The options were a

googol, which was the correct

answer, a megatron, a gigabit

or a nanomol.

Sheen’s role as Tarrant

adds to the lengthy list of

real-life figures the 50-year-

old Welsh actor has played,

including Tony Blair, Ken-

neth Williams, David Frost

and Brian Clough.

By Alisha Rouse

Showbusiness Correspondent

‘It’s a very

English heist’

Clifford, and another contest-

ant, who would apparently

cough when the correct

answer was mentioned.

Ingram listened for coughs

from college lecturer Tecwen

Whittock to steer him to the

correct answers.

In 2003 the Ingrams and

Whittock were found guilty of

deception and received

suspended prison sentences.

The three-part drama,

called Quiz, will air on ITV,

‘Misery in the

supply chain’

illegal drugs. More than one in

five of those was caused by

cocaine overdoses or effects. The

startling leap in cocaine deaths

follows reports that the drug has

become a fashionable habit

among well-paid young workers

in skilled as well as older middle

class people.

Psychiatrist Dr Niall Campbell

Middle-class

cocaine binges

push drug deaths

to record level

Screen couple: Matthew Macfadyen and Sian Clifford Guilty: Charles and Diana Ingram

QQQ V1 Daily Mail, Saturday, August 17, 2019