The Amazing Mrs Pritchard
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| The Amazing Mrs Pritchard | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Drama |
| Creator(s) | Jane Featherstone |
| Starring | Jane Horrocks Steven Mackintosh Jodhi May Janet McTeer Geraldine James Selina Cadell |
| Country of origin |  United Kingdom |
| No. of episodes | 6 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | BBC |
| Picture format | 1080i (HDTV) |
| Original run | 3 October 2006 – 7 November 2006 |
| Links | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Amazing Mrs Pritchard was a British television programme produced by Kudos for BBC One. It was written by Sally Wainwright and stars Jane Horrocks in the title role of an ordinary woman who becomes Prime Minister. It ran for six episodes from 3 October 2006 to 7 November 2006.
Contents |
[edit] Background
Sally Wainwright stated her motivation for writing the series was the realisation that "During the last election I found that I didn't really want to vote for anybody because they all seemed as bad as each other. I thought it would be great fun to write an epic story with a central character who was prepared to stand up and point this out. Mrs Pritchard is bold enough, or some may say daft enough, to stand for parliament on the assumption that she can do just as badly as any of them but at least she will be honest". The Amazing Mrs Pritchard was filmed in London from April 2006, and the episodes were broadcast at 9pm on Tuesdays. It faired poorly in the ratings, attracting 3.5 million viewers by the final episode.
[edit] Cast
[edit] Main
- Jane Horrocks - Rosamund 'Ros' Jane Pritchard
- Steven Mackintosh - Ian Pritchard
- Carey Mulligan - Emily Pritchard
- Jemma McKenzie-Brown - Georgina Pritchard
- Jodhi May - Miranda Lennox
- Janet McTeer - Catherine Walker
- Frances Tomelty - Kitty Porter
- Geraldine James - Hilary Rees-Benson
- Selina Cadell - Dorothy Crowther
- Meera Syal - Liz Shannon
- Siobhan Finneran - Beverley Clarke
- Jonathan Aris - Richard Leavis
- Sally Phillips - Meg Bayliss
- Tom Mison - Ben Sixsmith
[edit] Guests and cameos
Several politicians and journalists made cameo appearances, including Gavin Esler, Roy Hattersley, John Humphrys, Nick Robinson, David Steel, Andrew Marr, Simon McCoy, Sarah Montague, Peter Snow and Kirsty Wark.
[edit] Plot
The Amazing Mrs Pritchard revolves around supermarket manager Ros Pritchard, who, angry with the state of British politics, stands for election as an independent candidate in her home town of Eatanswill, Yorkshire[1]. She soon gains national attention and wins the general election, becoming Prime Minister.
[edit] Characters
Rosamund 'Ros' Jane Pritchard is a supermarket manager who creates her own party, the Purple Democratic Alliance. Ros succeded Tony Blair having won the general election by a huge landslide. When she first came to the job she knew nothing about politics but with the help of her advisor Catherine Walker who later became Deputy Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer she warmed to the job dealing with crises such as a plane exploding over Walhamstow and proposing a one day a week car ban. Her main opponent is Paul Crichley, Conservative Leader and Leader of the Opposition.
Ian Pritchard is Ros' husband. He doubted her campaign, and later admitted he didn't vote for her. Ian laundered money way before her office, a scandal which may force her to resign.
Emily Pritchard is Ros' older daughter. She was a student at the University of Sussex, but dropped out. A magazine deal saw naked pictures of her projected onto the Houses of Parliament.
Georgina Pritchard is Ros' younger daughter.
Catherine Walker is the Deputy Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer. She was having a sexual relationship with her speechwriter Ben Sixsmith and got pregnant by him but she aborted the baby. She was at Oxford University and had a chance to go to Princeton University but her tutor Hilary Rees-Benson didn't give it to her. She was formerly in love with Paul Critchley but he cheated on her when she was Conservative Shadow Health Minister.
Hilary Rees-Benson is the Home Secretary in Ros' government. She was a former Lib Dem Foreign Affairs spokesman and has an ongoing conflict with Catherine Walker. Rees-Benson leaked a potenial number of secrets to the writer Alex Rafael in Pritchard's government which damaged it. She almost had to resign but agreed absolute loyalty to Ros. Hilary has been known to take Ros's side in the cabinet meetings and pulled off Green Wednesday, a car ban on every Wednesday.
[edit] Episodes
| # | Airdate | Overview | Ratings |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 October | After an incident between the Conservative and Labour candidates outside her supermarket Greengages, Ros Pritchard decides to stand for Parliament in the upcoming general election. She soon appears on Newsnight, and within days her new party, The Purple Democratic Alliance, has over 150 candidates and thanks to her manager, Kitty Porter, a campaign fund of £10million. While her two daughters, Emily and Georgina, are very supportive, her husband Ian tries to persuade her to pull out, especially when The Sun publishes an article about him. Soon, even MPs are defecting to her party, and even a frontbench Conservative, Catherine Walker, defects. On voting day, 12 May, Ian votes for the Liberal Democrats, and again tries to persuade her to stop, and secretly this is because of things in his past he is worried will come out, but these have already been dealt with. On election night, Ros accompanies Dave, one of her workers, to the hospital, and there she gets a call from Tony Blair congratulating her on winning the election. | 4.3 million (19% audience share)[2] |
| 2 | 10 October | Ros has won the election with 54% of the vote and 378 seats, the Conservatives are the Official Opposition with 147 seats, while Labour has 121 seats. The Queen (played by Dilys Laye) asks her to form the next Government, and after some reluctance, Ros does so and then meets Richard Leavis, her new Principal Private Secretary. But, she soons finds life at the top very demanding, and her first decision has to be made when a helicopter crashes in Iran and two British soldiers are stuck in the country. On her first evening at No 10, she gets advice from Tony Blair on how to escape Whitehall, and she then goes back to Greengages and talks to one of her old colleagues, Kimberly. Soon after, she launches "The Great Debate" where she asks the public for ideas for the Queen's Speech, and one of these is the idea to move Parliament to Bradford, and she includes this in "The People's Queen Speech". Meanwhile, Catherine Walker has been made Chancellor and Deputy Prime Minister, Hilary Rees-Benson (a former Liberal Democrat MP) is Home Secretary, and former Labour MP Dorothy Crowther became Foreign Secretary. Also, Georgina insists on going to a London school, and asks to be sent to Jericho Road School, a run down, inner city comprehensive. | 4 million[3] |
| 3 | 17 October | The House of Lords refuses to pass Ros's Parliamentary Reform Bill because of the clause moving Government to Bradford, and Ros wants to use the Parliament Act to bypass the Lords, but Catherine Walker tries to persuade her not to. However, after days of thinking she does invoke the Parliament Act. Meanwhile, a book about Ros's rise to power is published, and it's heavily critical of Catherine and says that Ros and Ian's marriage is in a bad state, which they both know has an element of truth. A visit from an African President is going well until Ros has to tell him his whole family have been killed. Also, Georgina gets a boyfriend from school and when Emily poses for a lads' magazine, the image is projected onto the side of Parliament. She then spends the £20,000 she got on a sports car, which leads to Ian telling her how he once laundered £10,000. | |
| 4 | 24 October | Twelve months since her election, Ros is still continuing with her radical agenda with the new Parliament to open in 2010. However, when a Lithuanian plane crashes over Walthamstow, Ros says she will resign if it is the result of terrorism, but it turns out to be because a piece of EU legislation allowed for less stringent safety guidelines. Meanwhile, after a night on the town, Junior Health Minister Beverley Clarke has to resign after The World newspaper publishes embarrassing pictures of her. She also reveals to Miranda that Kitty paid Liz Shannon £125,000 to defect from Labour before the election. Also, Ros finds condoms in Georgina's pocket, while Emily has dropped out of Sussex University and has to be persuaded by Kitty not to tell her mother about Ian's money laundering. | 3.4 million (15.6%)[4] |
| 5 | 31 October | At a G8 summit in Vancouver, Ros announces that in a month's time, on 24 June, and every Wednesday after that only essential car journeys will be allowed. Catherine is very doubtful about this especially as there is a by-election in the safe Conservative seat of Stonesfield on the same day. However, when the day comes they not only win the by-election by 342 votes, but also France, Finland, Norway and Germany announce they will join the UK in having a one-day-a-week car ban. Also, Richard Leavis discovers that it was Hilary Rees-Benson who talked to the author of the damaging book that was published. Meanwhile Emily quits as Kitty's apprentice after a fortnight and in anger tells Ros about Ian's money laundering. Catherine, who has been seeing her much-younger than her speechwriter, Ben Sixsmith, for a year, finds out she's pregnant and immediately has an abortion. | 3.2 million (14%)[5] |
| 6 | 7 November | After finding out about Ian's money laundering 15 years, Ros firstly talks to Miranda and then to Ian, who says one reason he didn't tell her because it was at the time she had 9 miscarriages. After sleeping on it, she decides she will not resign or report Ian to the police. However, a journalist who found about the secret at the same time Kitty did now wants a lucrative Home Office contract to go to a company he's associated with. Ros then tries to persuade the Home Secretary to give his company the contract, but, worried, she goes to Catherine, who the gets the truth out of Ros. The decision Ros then makes whether to resign or divorce Ian is not revealed. Also, Catherine tries to cope with her abortion, while Ben is annoyed and leaves her, but after talking to Ros, Catherine proposes to Ben. However, when asked to kiss Ben in public, she refused. | 3.5 million (10%)[6] |
[edit] References
- ^ A reference to The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens, which describes in chapter 13 the corrupt Eatanswill by-election in the North of England
- ^ 4m see Trinny and Susannah's ITV debut mediaguardian.co.uk (registration required), accessed 15 November 2006
- ^ Dressing down for fashionistas mediaguardian.co.uk (registration required), accessed 15 November 2006
- ^ Mrs Pritchard loses the vote mediaguardian.co.uk (registration required), accessed 15 November 2006
- ^ Chelsea score winner for ITV1 mediaguardian.co.uk (registration required), accessed 15 November 2006
- ^ Awards show does ITV1 proud mediaguardian.co.uk (registration required), accessed 15 November 2006
