Peter Franklin reviews the Amazing Mrs Pritchard

The Amazing Mrs Pritchard
Tuesday 9pm, Tuesday

I was supposed to be reviewing the World Tonight on Radio 4, but I think BBC1’s prime time political drama should take priority. For a start, millions more people will have watched the latter than listened to the former. Indeed, it’s only the latter that’s got an audience of millions.

The Amazing Mrs Pritchard stars Jane Horrocks as a supermarket manager who accidentally finds herself starting a new political party – “the Purple Alliance” – and leading it to a general election victory. I won’t take issue with the improbable sequence of events that end up putting Horrocks in Downing Street, suffice it to say that this isn’t the British answer to the West Wing. Nevertheless, there is no excuse for the string of clichés that comprise the plot line.

The story starts of with a fist fight between a brutish Labour candidate and his pompous Tory rival. Then their wimpish Lib Dem opposite number turns up only to be told to go away. The only real party to be portrayed in any detail was the Conservative Party, entirely staffed by posh oleaginous stereotypes, needless to say. Oh, there was one semi-sympathetic Tory, a high-flying Shadow Minister played by Janet McTeer. However, as the victim of male chauvinism, she is passed over for promotion and defects to the Purple Alliance. This really annoyed me. If the real Conservative Party were graced by a super-cool, super-talented modern Margaret Thatcher like the McTeer character, she would, without question, already be Tory leader.

But what of the Purple Alliance – what did that stand for? Next to nothing as it turned out. It was just a touchy-feely, anti-politics platform. The only ideological theme that came through was that men are either nasty, weak or stupid. In fact, there wasn’t a single admirable male character in the entire story.
And so the moral of the tale is this: The main parties are irredeemably rubbish and men are to blame. Well, there’s some truth in the first part of this proposition, but I wonder if the writer of this series has ever heard of Hazel Blears?

In any case, I’ve got an alternative explanation for the rubbishness of British politics: The rubbishness of the British mainstream media – who have infantilised political discourse and privileged personality over policy. In this respect, The Amazing Mrs Pritchard is very much the BBC’s candidate.

Comments

[Alex R]

Sorry Peter,

You're not getting the significance of the show. The whole fact the show has been made shows just fast and large the anti-politics anti-politician movement has grown. So strong that the BBC feels able to attack all the major parties with it.

A number of politicians have seen this and are suggesting solutions: Brown's idea of an independent board for the NHS, to take the politics out of health; Milburn's plans for empowering local communities and devolving power down; and the TPA's work on tax and the running of key public services.

Even Cameron seems to be trying: if the people won't believe politicians' promises, we won't promise anything.

[malcolm]

Agree with you Peter,absolute rubbish.Would have made a mildly amusing one off but as a series I can't see it retaining its viewing share. The 'all men are fools' slant was also particularly irritating.

[Jon Gale]

Probably still not as bad as ITV's "The Outsiders" that I watched. It seems modern script writers are incredibly lazy and half-assed.

[Christopher North]

The Tories DO have a super-talented McTeer character: Theresa Villiers.

And, for all the rubbishness of the plot line, the premise of the series - that politicians have become remote from the rest of us - is spot-on. The solution? Localism. One of the consultants on the programme, Ed Howker, turns out to have been a co-author, along with various Tory MPs, of Direct Democracy: An Agenda for a New Model Party (www.direct-democracy.co.uk). Even if the Beeb are miles away from the answer, at least they're asking the right question.

[Richard]

"The solution? Localism."

I have found that local politicians are often as out of touch as national politicians. The solution is for politicians to cease meddling in all aspects of our lives. But the electorate don't really want that - they want the nanny state in some shape or form, they just differ as what areas nanny should involve herself in.

[Steve Richmond]

I'm not a regular BBC basher, but this programme was awful. I understand the issue they are trying to address, but I fear that it implies that there is an easy "way out" of party politics. I don't want to be a bore but Mrs Pritchard say she isn't a politician, but then stands to be elected? Is she an elected non-Politician?

Party politics can be pretty destructive at times, so I think the issue does need to be addressed, but the suggestion that you can opt out is not useful.

[Tom Greeves]

I haven't seen the BBC show, so it would be irresponsible to comment. So I'm going to comment.

Well, at least about the West Wing, which I have been watching voraciously in the last few days. (I've moved flat and not yet got a TV, so I have to watch DVDs and go online, otherwise I'd have to resort to human contact.)

The West Wing - which features a Democratic White House - is just wonderful. And I say that as someone who spent three months in the States working on a Republican campaign unpaid because I believe so strongly in the GOP cause.

I think it shows that a decent political drama has to feature well rounded characters who have specific political opinions. We all have prejudices, and if a political show is to work, the main players have to articulate theirs. And for it to ring true, they have to be prejudices and policies held by real people in the real world.

I can see why the BBC would be fearful of this. I think it's another example of how we are going to have, in due course, to let TV be more partisan.

Obviously the BBC should not take a corporate political position (although it does!!!), but I don't see why individual shows should not. The Girl in the Cafe, Richard Curtis's TV play about third world poverty did. I suspect it didn't occur to the BBC that anyone who cares about poverty could object to the Make Poverty History viewpoint.

Anyway, this is far too long a comment from someone who did not see the programme reviewed!

[Tom]

You can tell that the West Wing is made by pinko lefty meeja types because it really is the ultimate Democrat fantasy - what we want is a Democratic politician who holds all the right views (pro-choice, believes the rich should pay to help the poor, lets fight for workers and the little man, ra ra) but who is also incredibly strong on National Security and in fact quite happy to use force in pursuit of good causes (National Soverignty, whats that then?) AND is independant of the totally corrupt party structure and union links that usually dominate the left.
Oh and we'd like a non-philandering family man, possibly with some kind of non-fatal but sympathy-inducing disease please.

[Denis Cooper]

So far, just another excuse to slag off men, like Casualty, Holby City and most of the other rubbish churned out by the BBC. I'll give it one more episode to see if there'll be any male character who isn't weak, misguided, idiotic, selfish, brutal and/or criminal. If there is, I expect he'll be gay.

[Elena]

Trust all of you men to think that this show was 'rubbish'!

It was thought-provoking and even though it had a fairytale element about it, it made a valid point. People are getting fed up of the patriarchal world of deceitful politicians which is why political apathy is higher than it has ever been before.

[Patsy Sergeant]

AlexR @ 9.33 oon Oct:4th.

I am sure you are right Alex, but you seem unable to see the media's pivotal, almost nihilistic attitude to politician's - by media I mean TV and terrestrial TV at that, which comes into the largest number of houses in the country.

Having watched the various Conservative Ministers speak - first hand for the first time - in other words their speeches were not 'edited' (for whatever reason!), made me even more aware of just how manipulative the various commentators are, you could almost say that they are the ones 'making policies'!!!

I think Mr. Brown or his advisors are well aware of this and that is why he is devising these changes in the NHS and elsewhere, to take these areas further away from media inspection.

I would like to ask chief editors - or whatever - of TV newsrooms, are you really being as responsible as you like to think you, or is it that, like the child who likes to knock down the sand castle or brick tower, that YOUR pleasure is more in KNOCKING THINGS DOWN, such a sophisticated occupation!!!!!