''Last Rights'' is a British

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

political thriller A political thriller is a thriller that is set against the backdrop of a political power struggle, high stakes and suspense is the core of the story. The genre often forces the audiences to consider and understand the importance of politics. The ...

drama, written by Clive Bradley and directed by Bill Anderson, which first aired on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

. Despite the subject matter, all three episodes were broadcast back-to-back from 9am on 24 March 2005, as part of a strand of programming aired towards the run-up to the

2005 UK General Election The 2005 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 5 May 2005, to elect 646 members to the House of Commons. The Labour Party, led by Tony Blair, won its third consecutive victory, with Blair becoming the second Labour leader afte ...

. The series stars

Philip Glenister Philip Haywood Glenister (born 10 February 1963) is an English actor. He is best known for his role as DCI Gene Hunt in the BBC series ''Life on Mars'' (2006–2007) and its sequel '' Ashes to Ashes'' (2008–2010). He also played DCI William ...

as John Speers, a spin-doctor and right-hand man to the newly elected prime minister, Richard Wheeler (

Charles Dance Walter Charles Dance (born 10 October 1946) is an English actor. He is known for playing strict, authoritarian characters and villains. His most notable film roles include Sardo Numspa in ''The Golden Child'' (1986), Dr. Jonathan Clemens in ''A ...

), who tries to prevent the leak of potentially sensitive confidential information when his laptop is stolen by a young tearaway. The series also co-starred Ashley Walters,

Iddo Goldberg Iddo Goldberg ( he, עדו גולדברג; born 5 August 1975) is an Israeli-British actor born in Israel. He is known for his roles as Ben in ''Secret Diary of a Call Girl'', Freddie Thorne in ''Peaky Blinders'', Isaac Walton in '' Salem'' and ...

Stephen Graham Stephen Joseph Graham (born 3 August 1973) is a British actor. He is best known for playing Andrew "Combo" Gascoigne in the film ''This Is England'' (2006) and its television sequels ''This Is England '86'' (2010), '' This Is England '88'' ( ...

and

Colin McFarlane Colin Andrew Ignatius Peter McFarlane (born 15 September 1961) is a British actor, narrator and voice actor. He is best known for his role as Gillian B. Loeb in two films of Christopher Nolan's ''The Dark Knight Trilogy'', Ulysses in the STARZ ...

. Aside from a single rerun during the T4 strand of programming in 2006, the series has never been repeated since and has never been released on DVD. Due to the timeslot of broadcast, no viewing figures were recorded for any of the three episodes.

Plot

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, 2009.

Voter apathy In political science, voter apathy is a lack of interest among voters in the elections of representative democracies. Voter apathy or lack of interest is often cited as a cause of low turnout among eligible voters in jurisdictions where vot ...

is at an all-time high in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, and a new right-wing political party, The Democratic Consensus Party, led by Richard Wheeler, have just been voted into office. Unbeknownst to the public, the DCP have a sinister hidden agenda to do away with democracy and turn the country into a

police state A police state describes a state where its government institutions exercise an extreme level of control over civil society and liberties. There is typically little or no distinction between the law and the exercise of political power by the exe ...

. John Speers panics when just days after being appointed as Wheeler's right-hand-man and spin-doctor, his laptop is stolen by Tariq, a young tearaway. Concerned that the laptop contains potentially sensitive and confidential information, Speers sets about trying to recover it. Meanwhile, Tariq's best friend, Max is concerned when he suddenly disappears without trace. Max finds himself unwittingly drawn into a dangerous world of corruption and political conspiracy as he goes in search of his missing friend. Max subsequently discovers information which threatens to ruin the government's plans, but will he realise its significance in time?

Cast

as Speers *

as Wheeler * Ashley Walters as Max * Kiera Malik as Melissa * Sonnell Dadral as Tariq *

as Sol *

as Steve *

as Don * Mamta Kaash as Shahida *

Raquel Cassidy Raquel Cassidy is an English actress. She played the role of Phyllis Baxter in the television series ''Downton Abbey'' (2013–2015), winning a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series. She has re ...

as Nadine *

Francesca Fowler Francesca Fowler (born 1985, Hammersmith, London) is a British actress and screenwriter. She appeared in the 2007 thriller film '' Straightheads'' alongside Gillian Anderson and Danny Dyer, and has also appeared in ''Rome'' HBO, and various BBC TV ...

as Liz * Niall Refoy as Brown * Paul Rattray as Pete * Martin Walsh as Dermot *

Anthony Oseyemi Anthony Oluwakayode Oseyemi (born 17 January 1977) is a British–South African actor of Nigerian descent. He is best known for the roles in the films and teleserials ''Five Fingers for Marseilles'', ''Mordene i Kongo, The Congo Murders'' and '' ...

as Jameel * Olivia Scott as Zara * Jaimi Barbakoff as Sheryl * Jon Snow as Himself

External links

References

{{reflist 2005 British television series debuts 2005 British television series endings 2000s British drama television series Channel 4 original programming British thriller television series Fiction set in 2009 2000s British television miniseries English-language television shows Television shows set in London