The Blair Years

A Very British Coup

A Very British Coup is a British political thriller series based on the novel by Chris Mullin. It stars Ray McAnally as the newly elected left-wing prime minister Harry Perkins, who soon finds himself up to his neck in conspiracy.

Afghanistan: Getting Out

Finding a way to end a war. Insiders tell the long and troubled story of a chaotic conflict, revealing the political pressures that helped seal the fate of Afghanistan.

This England

Inside the halls of power, Boris Johnson grapples with Covid-19, Brexit, and a controversial personal and political life during his tumultuous first months as Prime Minister.

The Trial of Christine Keeler

The minister, his mistress, and her lover the spy. The story of the woman at the centre of one of the 20th century's biggest scandals – which changed Britain forever.

Number 10

There's a Prime Minister in the attic, a coffee bar in the basement, and a wallpapered labyrinth of romance, crisis and heartbreak in-between. Set in the only terrace house in history with mice and a nuclear deterrent, it's the only knock-through in the world where a hangover can start a war. The government will be fictional and unspecific, but the problems will be real. We'll never know which party is in power, because once the whole world hits the fan it barely matters.

Yes, Prime Minister

James Hacker MP the Government's bumbling minister for Administrative Affairs is propelled along the corridors of power to the very pinnacle of politics - No. 10. Could this have possibly have been managed by his trusted Permanent Private Secretary, the formidably political Sir Humphrey Appleby who must move to the “Top Job” in Downing Street to support him, together with his much put upon PPS Bernard Wolley. What could possibly go wrong?

Thatcher: The Downing Street Years

A history of the eleven years which Thatcher spent as Prime Minister of the UK.

To Play the King

Francis Urquhart's survival at the top is threatened by the new king's populist agenda.

Hostage

When the British prime minister's husband is kidnapped and the French president starts receiving threats, both leaders must face an impossible choice.

House of Cards

Frustrated at a new moderate Conservative government and deprived of a promotion to a senior position, chief whip Francis Urquhart prepares a meticulous plot to bring down the Prime Minister then to take his place.

Thatcher & Reagan: A Very Special Relationship

Journalist Charles Moore, who wrote Margaret Thatcher's authorised biography, explores her extremely close relationship with US President Ronald Reagan. These two leaders came together in the shadow of the Cold War and nuclear armageddon, and Charles meets the people who were in the room with them as they faced the great challenges of their age.

Number 10

Drama series about the private lives of seven British prime ministers who lived in Number 10 Downing Street between the 1780s and the 1920s: William Pitt the Younger, the Duke of Wellington (Arthur Wellesley), Benjamin Disraeli, William Ewart Gladstone, David Lloyd-George, Herbert Henry Asquith and James Ramsay MacDonald.

My Dad's the Prime Minister

My Dad's the Prime Minister is a British sitcom written by Ian Hislop and Nick Newman. It centres around the life of the Prime Minister, his family and his spin doctor. Its main cast include Robert Bathurst, Joe Prospero, Carla Mendonça, Brian Bovell and Emma Sackville. It was filmed at Bushey in Watford, and extras included students of the nearby Bushey Hall School and Bushey Meads School. Series 1 was shown on BBC 1 as part of CBBC, in April and May 2003. Season 2 was shown later in the evening on BBC 1, in November and December 2004. Series 1 focused more on Dillon, while the second season had greater coverage of the life of the Prime Minister. Series 1 was released on DVD and video, but currently Series 2 remains unreleased.

Prime Minister’s Questions

Questions to the Prime Minister. Held weekly since 1961, Prime Minister's Questions, also referred to as PMQs, gives Members of the British Parliament a chance to question the Prime Minister in the House of Commons. PMQs takes place at midday every Wednesday at the Palace of Westminster when the House of Commons is sitting.

The Deal

The Deal is a 2003 British television film directed by Stephen Frears from a script by Peter Morgan, based in part upon The Rivals by James Naughtie. The film stars David Morrissey as Gordon Brown and Michael Sheen as Tony Blair, and depicts the Blair-Brown deal—a well-documented pact that Blair and Brown made whereby Brown would not stand in the 1994 Labour leadership election, so that Blair could have a clear run at becoming leader of the party and Prime Minister. The film begins on 9 June 1983, as Blair and Brown are first elected to Parliament, and concludes in May 1994 at the Granita restaurant—the location of the supposed agreement—with a brief epilogue following the leadership contest. The film was first proposed by Morgan in late 2002 and was taken on by Granada Television for ITV. After Frears agreed to direct, and the cast were signed on, ITV pulled out of it over fears that the political sensitivity could affect its corporate merger. Channel 4 picked up the production and filming was carried out for five weeks in May 2003. The film was broadcast on 28 September 2003, the weekend prior to the Labour Party's annual party conference. The film was critically lauded. Morrissey received considerable praise, winning a Royal Television Society award for playing Brown, and Frears was nominated for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Television Movie/Serial by the Directors Guild of Great Britain. The film also nominated for an International Emmy for Best TV Movie/Miniseries. Sheen later reunited with Morgan, Frears, and producer Christine Langan in 2006 to reprise his role as Blair in The Queen, that depicts the death of Princess Diana on 31 August 1997. Sheen reprised his role once again in 2010 in The Special Relationship, that chronicles the "special relationship" between Blair and US President Bill Clinton up until the September 11 attacks, and was broadcast on BBC Two in the United Kingdom and HBO in North America.

Tony Robinson's Fact Or Fiction

Cities: Nature's New Wild

Discover the remarkable ways animals of all shapes and sizes are adapting to make the most of opportunities in the newest and fastest changing habitat on the planet - our cities.

Mayday

Major real-life air disasters are depicted in this series. Each episode features a detailed dramatized reconstruction of the incident based on cockpit voice recorders and air traffic control transcripts, as well as eyewitnesses recounts and interviews with aviation experts.

Driven

Driven was a motoring television programme launched by Channel 4 in 1998 as a rival to the successful and long-running BBC series Top Gear. The style was similar to its rival, but with additional features such as the "Driven 100", a road test of three cars in the same class, where each car would be given marks for qualities such as practicality, desirability and cost of ownership. The car with the highest total score would be the winner. The programme launched with the concept that the presenters should interact with each other rather than present items on their own, as was then the case on Top Gear. The first series also featured a "headquarters", a racing team truck, set on a former air force base at which cars were put through their paces. These concepts resurfaced in the reborn Top Gear soon after.

Dateline

Dateline NBC, or simply Dateline, is a weekly American television newsmagazine series. It was previously the network's flagship newsmagazine, but now focuses mainly on true crime stories with only occasional editions that focus on other topics.