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''Absolute Power'' is a British comedy programme, set in the offices of Prentiss McCabe, a fictional
public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. ...
company (or 'government-media relations consultancy') in London, run by Charles Prentiss (
Stephen Fry Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director and writer. He first came to prominence in the 1980s as one half of the comic double act Fry and Laurie, alongside Hugh Laurie, with the two starring ...
) and Martin McCabe ( John Bird). It started in 2000 on
BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
, lasting until 2004 with the fourth and final radio series. A six-part television series ran on BBC Two towards the end of 2003; the second six-episode television series ran on BBC Two on Thursdays at 10 pm from 21 July to 25 August 2005. A one-off radio episode was broadcast on 3 November 2006. The title is taken from a quotation by the historian
Lord Acton John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton, 13th Marquess of Groppoli, (10 January 1834 – 19 June 1902), better known as Lord Acton, was an English Catholic historian, politician, and writer. He is best remembered for the remark he w ...
: "power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely".


Radio version

The programme was devised and written by Mark Tavener, and logically follows the programme '' In the Red'', ''In the Balance'', ''In the Chair'', and ''In the End'' which he wrote with
Peter Baynham Peter Baynham is a Welsh screenwriter and performer. He is best known for appearing in a series of comedic Pot Noodle television adverts in the 1990s. His work largely represents collaborations with comedy figures such as Armando Iannucci, Steve ...
. In some of these, Prentiss and McCabe (again played by Fry and Bird) are elevated members of the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
, before getting kicked out. Indeed, there is a scene on the last page of the novel '' In the Red'', in which the newly appointed director general of the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
gives them the sack. The idea is that after this they created Prentiss McCabe, which is the subject of ''Absolute Power''. The tone and style of ''Absolute Power'' is so different from the ''In the...'' series that it can be regarded as a totally different programme. It was produced, like so much of Tavener's work, by Dawn Ellis. Prentiss is a man without morals, whose only objectives are money and power. He is portrayed as being the brains, while McCabe, though an excellent speech-writer, lacks his motivation and insight. McCabe's ambitions include retiring and drinking
claret Bordeaux wine ( oc, vin de Bordèu, french: vin de Bordeaux) is produced in the Bordeaux region of southwest France, around the city of Bordeaux, on the Garonne River. To the north of the city the Dordogne River joins the Garonne forming the ...
, and he spends his life in a state of cynicism, lack of energy and boredom. McCabe (who describes himself as "a first class mind") does sometimes have good ideas, but they usually become Prentiss's ideas by the time they are presented to the client, and he lacks the energy to make more than mild objections. McCabe is also more likely to baulk at a scheme for moral reasons than Prentiss. Stephen Fry said of Charles Prentiss, "He's a brute of a man, out to win, with no morals; he's completely shameless. There's not much to say that's nice about him, except that there is some pleasure in watching a natural born killer at work and knowing whatever happens he will win". Prentiss and McCabe often find themselves working on behalf of two rival clients, one of whom is often the shadier side of the
Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...
government, often called their "Downing Street Retainer". This is usually something of an inconvenience as Prentiss is met by Archie Hilditch (
Tony Gardner Tony Gardner (born 10 January 1964) is an English actor and doctor. He sits on the national governing body of the actors' trade union Equity. Career Gardner qualified as a physician at Guy's Hospital in 1987, then as a general practitioner in ...
,
Alex Lowe Stewart Alexander Lowe (24 December 1958 – 5 October 1999) was an American mountaineer. He has been described as inspiring "...a whole generation of climbers and explorers with his uncontainable enthusiasm, legendary training routines, and si ...
), a faceless member of the government, in a deserted location (such as
Frank Dobson Frank Gordon Dobson (15 March 1940 – 11 November 2019) was a British Labour Party politician. As Member of Parliament (MP) for Holborn and St. Pancras from 1979 to 2015, he served in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Health from 1997 t ...
's campaign headquarters), and told he needs to ruin the popularity of the organisation that he has spent half the programme building up. For example, in one episode they're employed by the government to increase the popularity of the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
, while also being employed by the Eurosceptic newspaper '' The Sun'' to increase sales. It is probably a good thing in the end, as the firm relies on these payments since neither Prentiss nor McCabe seems to want to do any real work. The third member of the company is Sandy (
Siobhan Hayes Siobhan Teresa Hayes (born 21 July 1974) is an English actress. She is known for her roles as Abi Harper in the BBC sitcom ''My Family'' and Sandy in the BBC radio series '' Absolute Power''. Career Hayes portrayed Abi Harper, a clumsy and dim- ...
), who is there as the office trainee, getting work experience for her
NVQ National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) are practical work-based awards in England, Wales and Northern Ireland that are achieved through assessment and training. The regulatory framework supporting NVQs was withdrawn in 2015 and replaced by the ...
level 2. She usually does all the work that the partners in the firm cannot be bothered to do, such as filling out thousands of public opinion polls in different handwritings, though she will only agree to do something if it can be twisted into one of the 'nine levels of competence' of her NVQ. Another member of the office is the useless Clive ( Tom George) or as Martin calls him, 'young, er, thing', who often turns publicity stunts into bloodbaths. He first appears in series three, after Sandy leaves the company to become a nurse (although due to her fiddling with the accounts, she still gets paid). Another regular character is Maurice, the waiter at McCabe's
club Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a '' Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands and enterprises ...
. Each time he serves McCabe's claret, he corrects the English pronunciation of Maurice (Morris) to the French (Maur-ees), and each time Prentiss puts him down with a verse like "One man by circumstance is in splendour set; whilst another irons pants in a laundrette. Go and iron my pants, Morris". In series 1, one of the running jokes is the company trying to avoid working on "The Sir Harold Dixon Account." Although he is never heard, it is known that he is a
Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
politician. As the series goes on, Sandy becomes more frustrated, and in the last episode she changes jobs and starts working for Sir Harold. However, after allegations of sleaze, Sir Harold is made bankrupt and Sandy returns to Prentiss McCabe. In series 2, another character was created, Gayle Shand, played by
Tamsin Greig Tamsin Margaret Mary Greig (; born 12 July 1966) is an English actress, narrator and comedian. She played Fran Katzenjammer in the Channel 4 sitcom '' Black Books'', Dr Caroline Todd in the Channel 4 sitcom '' Green Wing'', Beverly Lincoln in ...
. Gayle was a former employee of Prentiss McCabe and Charles's former girlfriend, with whom she had a heavily sexual relationship (they often made love whilst listening to classical music). However, the relationship fell apart after Gayle told Charles that she was already married to an insect specialist from
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
. She now runs a rival firm to Prentiss McCabe, which is a much larger company, and is often trying to win Archie's contract, or is the agent of a rival client to Prentiss McCabe's current one. For example, whilst Charles and Martin work for the PM via Archie, Gayle is the spin doctor for the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Prentiss McCabe always come up with a plan to keep Archie on their side, despite Gayle's attempts to stop them, even trying to make Charles a partner in her firm. Also introduced was her assistant, Janice, who suspected that Gayle's personal rivalry with Charles did not lead to the best decisions. In the last episode of series 2, Gayle was leaving for America, and made one last bet with Charles. She bet her company against Charles's testicles that he could not make the
Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all national s ...
say "prison doesn't work". Despite Charles's best attempts, Gayle won because she bribed the Home Secretary, as she was having an affair with someone in the Home Office. Luckily, she called off the bet providing Charles could make love to her to the tune of the 1812 overture. Charles managed to get his own back, however, by planting some
class A drugs These drugs are known in the UK as ''controlled drugs'', because this is the term by which the act itself refers to them. In more general terms, however, many of these drugs are also controlled by the Medicines Act 1968, there are many other drug ...
in her suitcase as she left for America. Charles may nevertheless still have some feelings for her, and sometimes reminisces about their relationship. A one-off special episode was broadcast on 3 November 2006, with Tony Gardner playing Archie. In the special, Martin goes to jail for seven years for fraud (having been implicated in the
Cash for Peerages The Cash-for-Honours scandal (also known as Cash for Peerages, Loans for Lordships, Loans for Honours or Loans for Peerages) was a political scandal in the United Kingdom in 2006 and 2007 concerning the connection between political donations and ...
scandal). Archie, who has left New Labour, then blackmails Charles into giving him a job to prevent any more embarrassing information getting out about the company. However, Charles soon learns that in fact Archie has framed both Martin and himself, with the assistance of Martin's girlfriend, and they are planning to take over Prentiss McCabe. After Charles finds proof, Archie goes to jail and Martin gets released, but as he has been moved to an open prison, he does not feel like leaving too soon. The radio series is sometimes repeated on BBC Radio 4 Extra as part of the "Comedy Club" hour.


Hutton Report

The first episode of series 4 was controversially edited because of references to the Hutton Report. The words "manipulation and lying" were cut from Prentiss's line: "There's nothing Prentiss McCabe can teach this prime minister about deception, manipulation and lying, except how to do it properly".


TV programme

The television programme was written by Guy Andrews, Mark Lawson and Andrew Rattenbury, and had the tag " spin is dead, long live PR". Unlike most radio to TV sitcom transfers, none of the TV episodes was based on a radio episode. There are many differences to the radio version. Prentiss McCabe is a much more powerful and respected organisation than in the radio series. Martin McCabe is much more worldly wise. The secret meetings with government representatives are gone and replaced with more cups of coffee with newspaper editors and private secretaries. While the radio programme has one trainee, the TV version has several young professionals working at the agency. Most notable are Jamie Front (
James Lance James Frederick Grenville Lance (born 29 September 1974) is an English actor, best known for his appearances in a number of British comedy series and the British-American comedy series '' Ted Lasso'' for which he was nominated for a Primetime ...
) and Alison Jackman (
Zoe Telford Zoe Telford is an English actress. Early life and education Telford was born in Norwich, England. She started training as a dancer at a very young age and continued until she was in her 20s. She attended the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Art ...
). While Jamie is a brilliant liar and naturally devious, Alison is very intelligent but too honest and somewhat literal-minded. Charles Prentiss said of her, "Most of the young people here at Prentiss McCabe don't know their arse from their elbow, but with Alison, at least you know she'll join the Royal Arse Society and get a book about elbows from the library". Also in the firm are Cat Durnford (
Sally Bretton Sally Davis (born 1975/1976), known professionally as Sally Bretton, is a British actress. She is best known for appearing as Lucy Adams in the long-running BBC television sitcom '' Not Going Out'' since 2007, and as Martha Lloyd in the BBC1 cri ...
), the young party girl, and Nick Mayer ( Nick Burns), Charles's personal assistant. Instead of political schemes, the agency concentrates on working with celebrities: something that is rare in the radio version. In the radio episode where McCabe works with a Big Brother contestant, this is shown as an exceptional event, but would be normal behaviour in the TV series. Contrariwise, in the TV episode "The House of Lords", Charles is mildly surprised to be contacted by a government spin doctor. Notable cameo and guest-starring roles in the television series have included: *
Fern Britton Fern Britton (born 17 July 1957) is an English author and television presenter. She co-presented '' Breakfast Time'' in the 1980s, coming to mainstream national attention when hosting cookery game show ''Ready Steady Cook'' between 1994 and 200 ...
*
Tim Brooke-Taylor Timothy Julian Brooke-Taylor OBE (17 July 194012 April 2020) was an English actor and comedian best known as a member of The Goodies. He became active in performing in comedy sketches while at the University of Cambridge and became president ...
* Angus Deayton *
Gareth David-Lloyd Gareth David Lloyd (born 28 March 1981), known professionally as Gareth David-Lloyd, is a Welsh actor and writer best known for his role as Ianto Jones in the British science fiction series ''Torchwood.'' Early life He was born in Bettws, Newp ...
*
Huw Edwards Huw Edwards (; born 18 August 1961) is a Welsh journalist, presenter, and newsreader. Edwards presents ''BBC News at Ten'', the corporation's flagship news broadcast. Edwards also presents BBC coverage of state events, international events, th ...
*
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*
Gareth Hunt Alan Leonard Hunt (7 February 1942 – 14 March 2007), known as Gareth Hunt, was a British actor best remembered for playing footman Frederick Norton in '' Upstairs, Downstairs'' and Mike Gambit in '' The New Avengers''. Early life Alan Leon ...
* Mark Lawson *
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*
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*
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*
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*
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*
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*
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*
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*
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* Matthew Wright


The London bombings

Owing to the terrorist attacks on London on 7 and 21 July 2005, the first episode of the second series (in which a member of the
bin Laden family The Binladin family ( ar, عائلة بن لادن, ) is an Arab family intimately connected with the innermost circles of the Saudi royal family. It is the namesake and controlling shareholder of Saudi Binladin Group, a multinational construct ...
attempted to buy
British Airways British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London, England, near its main hub at Heathrow Airport. The airline is the second largest UK-based carrier, based on fleet size and passengers ...
) was replaced by an episode from later in the series. The bin Laden episode was aired several weeks later.


Episode list


The radio series

Series 1 *S01 E01 – Conservative Party (5 January 2000) *S01 E02 – Relaunch of the Sun (12 January 2000) *S01 E03 – Mayor of London (19 January 2000) *S01 E04 – The Church of England (26 January 2000) *S01 E05 – Radio 3 (2 February 2000) *S01 E06 – English Sporting Success (9 February 2000) Series 2 *S02 E01 – Martin is Bored (30 January 2001) *S02 E02 – Promoting Philosophy (6 February 2001) *S02 E03 – Relaunching a Literary Career (13 February 2001) *S02 E04 – The Elderly Initiative (20 February 2001) *S02 E05 – Prison Reform (27 February 2001) *S02 E06 – Gayle Shand (6 March 2001) Series 3 *S03 E01 – Poking the PM (1 January 2002) *S03 E02 – Health Service (8 January 2002) *S03 E03 – Big Brother (15 January 2002) *S03 E04 – A Tennis Star (22 January 2002) *S03 E05 – Men (29 January 2002) Series 4 *S04 E01 – The BBC (5 February 2004) *S04 E02 – The Notion of Nation (12 February 2004) *S04 E03 – Healthy Eating (19 February 2004) *S04 E04 – US Presidential Campaign (26 February 2004) Special Episode – (3 November 2006)


The television programme

Series One *S01 E01 – History Man (10 November 2003) *S01 E02 – Pope Idol (17 November 2003) *S01 E03 – Tory Woman (24 November 2003) *S01 E04 – Mr Fox (1 December 2003) *S01 E05 – Country Life (8 December 2003) *S01 E06 – Crash and Burn (15 December 2003) Series Two *S02 E01 – The Nation's Favourite *S02 E02 – The Trial *S02 E03 – Blood Bank *S02 E04 – The House of Lords *S02 E05 – Spinning America *S02 E06 – Identity Crisis


Critical reception – television programme


References


External links

*
''Absolute Power'' at the BBC Comedy Guide
(Wayback Machine) * *{{IMDb title, 0386149, Absolute Power BBC television sitcoms BBC Radio comedy programmes British political comedy television series Television shows set in London 2000s British satirical television series 2000 radio programme debuts 2003 British television series debuts 2005 British television series endings Political satirical television series Satirical radio programmes Public relations in the United Kingdom