a very british coup review

My only reservation about this drama is the ending which seems to imply a military coup against Perkins. This is really atrocious stuff - cartoon stick-figures of good and evil, a protagonist seething with silly class hatred and childish hatred of the U.S. -- wallowing in self-pity for his grandpa, a plot that is just ludicrous. They tried every dirty trick on him, particularly media vilification. A Very British Coup (TV Mini-Series 1988) ... Add a Review User Reviews. Review: A Very British Coup. First published in 1982, Mullin's A Very British Coup starts well and shows some real insights into how an extremist politician could take hold of a major political party and end up as PM. American films, like The Manchurian Candidate or Seven Days in May have some of the same power but seem much simpler in their construction. Sign In; Register ; Help; Literary Review Friday 19th March, 2021. The acting is authentic, and the writing impressive. This may hay have been made 30 years ago but it is as relevant today as it was then. Aged about 18 and having spent much of that time in Mrs Thatcher's Britain, this mini-series illustrated what might have happened had a Michael Foot, Tony Benn or a Ken Livingstone been elected Prime Minister. Last modified on Tue 19 Dec 2017 21.21 GMT. The quality of the acting is very high. His arrival to say the least causes consternation amongst the mandarins of the civil service and their underlings, a few media barons not to mention the white house, britains NATO allies, the head of the BBC and a few others besides. With Ray McAnally, Marjorie Yates, Geoffrey Beevers, Hugh Martin. ** only minor spoiler (hints) in this review **. A Very British Coup is a British political thriller series based on the novel by Chris Mullin. I read this as it rang a bell with Jeremy Corbyn. It stars Ray McAnally as the newly elected left-wing prime minister Harry Perkins, who soon finds himself up to his neck in conspiracy. He has a manifesto to follow, promises to keep his electorate and more important matters to ponder over. From election fraud in 2015 to the constitutional crisis of 2016 following the EU referendum, UK politics is in turmoil. A British Channel 4 mini-series, and one of the finest political thrillers ever made. No I am not talking about the 2008 U.S. Presidential election. Sadly, as the story unfolds, Mullin spreads his net too widely, so the bigger global themes (US-UK relations for example), don't really get developed fully. Blair Worden: A Very British Coup - 1688: The First Modern Revolution by Steve Pincus. Most of this is accomplished through the old boy network within the civil service and other organs of the government where the 'old school tie' comes into prominence. The story goes that a radical British PRime Minister is elected and the Establishment organises a coup. The only thing that sort of was a bit contrived as the death of a scientific expert that Perkins relied on - he was killed (or assassinated by those in the know) when crossing a train line. t is the near future. After a wave of public revulsion at the excesses of corrupt bankers, the Labour party has enjoyed a landslide victory under a far-left leader. A Very British Coup is a British political thriller series based on the novel by Chris Mullin. The fact that it's written by a former MP lends it strong verisimilitude. British Airways is one of the UK's most visible brands, selling Britishness as a mark of quality. They do this in the most unsubtle ways. I would read about something and my mind would jump to some fairly recent event and assume that was the allusion – only to realise that the book was published a quarter of a century beforehand. As the new PM, Harry Perkins (McAnally), sets about to rid the country of nukes and American military bases his own government's secret snoops conspire to ensure his failure and resist his liberal attempts to change the status quo. User Ratings Others however take more convincing. “I think all people are first class, don’t you?” Yet he’s also cunning, ruthless and capable of fighting dirty. Read honest and unbiased product reviews from our users. What a load of gibberish! For People Who Devour Books. Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read A Very British Coup. This is in a sense a minor point as the drama is superb but it does make it more outlandish than the book. You can find all the episodes on YouTube. This was changed from the book which ends about 15 minutes before the end of this drama with Perkins forced into retirement. These were the concluding words of the Prime Minister’s election night address in Chris Mullin’s classic A Very British Coup, spoken by Harry Perkins, the lifelong socialist who had been catapulted into power. However, we’re in the future now – and with anger at an out-of-touch, super-rich elite growing, and with support for Jeremy Corbyn snowballing, A Very British Coup suddenly feels very ahead of its time. Blair Worden: A Very British Coup - 1688: The First Modern Revolution by Steve Pincus. The source material for this drama is a novel written by a socialist Labour politician. 'We could count on your predecessors to mess up, but you are no fool.' On a policy of telling the truth removing all nuclear deterrence and using the money to create jobs improve the NHS and schools. A Very British Coup. The simple-minded fools are rising again. A HPANWO TV book review of the political thriller A Very British Coup by Chris Mullin, see: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Very-British-Coup-foretold-Corbyn/dp/1846687403. External Reviews Photograph: BFI. BBC documentary charting the politics of both sides of the Brexit campaign and the resulting changes in Westminster. It is interesting to watch the interplay between the Americans and the British, especially regarding the Blair government's position on Iraq, even in light of the famous Downing Street memorandum. A Very British Coup is a British political thriller series based on the novel by Chris Mullin. The Times, says the PM in his victory speech, called him a “simple-minded fool”. Moved Permanently. Imagine a working class steelworker from a council flat in Sheffield,winning a landslide election victory. You get a glimpse of a lot of the "friction" (putting it mildly as bodies pile up) that exists unseen in democratic government. A very modern Aussie take on this excellent film, Brilliant Drama But The End Does Rather Miss The Point, Thoughtful, well acted, well directed, only let down by a narrow party political script. 573 likes. It is the near future. Enough said. Based on a novel by Labour backbench MP Chris Mullin and adapted by Alan Plater, its hero is Harry Perkins, a former steelworker from Sheffield who makes his name exposing banking malpractice. A socialist Labour Party government has finally come to power in Britain. Lacking the fictional characters street smarts and possibly, wider appeal. AVBC is a sort of dystopian dream of what might be in British Politics. It's message is still pertinent to today's political intrigues here in Oz, except that the "Harry Perkins" character is the current Leader of the Opposition, Kim Beazley; he is facing destabilising comment from one group of newspapers, and it appears a concerted effort is being made to remove him by putting forward a more "acceptable" alternative. The novel has twice been adapted for television; as A Very British Coup in 1988 and as Secret State in 2012. Read this book using Google Play Books app on your PC, android, iOS devices. Posted by Adam Partington October 17, 2015 January 28, 2016 Posted in Articles, What I've Read Tags: A Very British Coup, Book, Book Review, Conservative Party, Fiction, Jeremy Corbyn, Labour Party . "A Very British Coup" was a turning point in my life. I don't know when this review was written but it has been on YouTube for the years. LibraryThing Review User Review - Eyejaybee - LibraryThing. Where would be now? The result is a clever and very well stitched together tale of one-upmanship at the top of the Brit government. “No, I’ll abolish second class,” he says. The late Ray Mcaulley is fantastic in the lead role and the support cast including a young Kieth Allen are all superb. I needn't have worried – the book is utterly timeless. What if the PM of UK told the US to take it's bases out 18 months? A left wing candidate is elected after a hard fought campaign by his right wing rivals. I would rank it along side the excellent film The Siege, which was a prescient view of NYC under attack pre-9/11. This was a brilliant adaptation of an excellent book and even though the kind of government Perkins sets up is as distant now as Gladstones it still holds some pertinent lessons about the constraints that an elected leader operates under in this country. From the first shot of the opening titles, a molotov cocktail striking the ground in front of Big Ben, this film moves with breathtaking speed and energy, and is guaranteed to push the emotional buttons of any political junkie. | | A Very British Coup is a 1982 novel by British politician Chris Mullin. This is the astonishingly prescient premise of A Very British Coup, a three-part drama broadcast on Channel 4 in 1988. Brilliant and scary. SPOILERS- My criticism of this drama involves the ending o I cannot really avoid giving it away- do not read if you haven't watched the drama first Having thoroughly enjoyed the book that this drama is based on i was delighted to be able to watch it for free on Channel 4's on demand service. He’s got a mandate to revitalise the British economy on a more equitable basis and ditch the UK’s nuclear deterrent. | he replies. The result is that A Very British Coup is as much a visual feast as anything else with moments in parts two and three that stand out even today. The pacing is excellent, there are no slow moments. His politics are just like Corbyn's the Leader ... Read full review. The UK parliamentary system is sound, and the only rumour of a coup in recent memory was a laughable plot by the press baron Cecil King in 1968, when he attempted to recruit Lord Mountbatten in a bid to unseat Harold Wilson’s government. That is the in fact the beginning of A Very British Coup, an excellent and all too plausible miniseries about a left wing British Prime Minister who radical policies lead to members of the right wing establishment trying to bring him down. But, had Tony Benn replaced the ineffectual Michael Foot as Labour leader - again very possible then -he would have been no Harry Perkins. “Your friends would do well to remember that,” he tells Lawrence Wainwright, his rival, centrist, proto-Blairite chancellor, who in cabinet meetings talks about “living in the real world”. A little later, the thawing of the cold war ushered in the supposed “end of history”, in which far-left politics were considered as extinct as the USSR and we were all supposed to be on the prosperous path to (neo)liberal democracy. Review by Holly E. Ordway | posted July 21, 2003 | E-mail the Author. A timeless classic. One could make a fascinating film about the 1968 Chicago Democratic convention, or the 2000 Florida recount drama. Director Mick Jackson who also created other classic flicks, Volcano 1997 and Threads 1984 has created another gem in A Very British Coup. Following a landslide election he is soon to be sworn in as prime minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, first lord of the treasury and the Kings first minister, with whom he appears to get along fine. The very notion makes the clandestine, aristocratic Browne blanche. Thatcher was VERY unpopular as Chris Mullin was writing his novel. Perkins is only too aware of the machinations against him, calling them “people who work quietly, behind the scenes”, whereas he himself is a believer in full accountability and public inquiries, words which. Alas by all accounts there are no copies on video or dvd. Coup 53 review – riveting documentary on a very British coup Taghi Amirani’s gripping film about the move against Iran’s prime minister highlights an … Sadly, McAnally died shortly after it was broadcast. I'd like to think that this isn't particularly credible, but, allowing for that, this is a well made and gratifying piece of television drama. Firstly, I should perhaps counter the two negative reviews by pointing out the novel this was based on was written in the early 1980's when a left wing Labour government could have been a distinct possibility. I saw this first as a complete film on Australian TV some years ago. Posted on 23/01/2013 by Gavin Mendel-Gleason. Should be an enjoyable and entertaining DVD watch for anyone interested in British government and a sort of British version of "An American President". Complete your Jah Wobble Featuring Keith Levene, Richard Dudanski, Mark Stewart, Andrew Weatherall & Youth collection. A Very British Coup is a 1988 British political serial adapted from Chris Mullin's 1982 novel A Very British Coup in 1988 by screenwriter Alan Plater and director Mick Jackson.Starring Ray McAnally, the series was first screened on Channel 4 and won Bafta and Emmy awards, and was screened in more than 30 countries.. The story focuses on one Harry Perkins. FAQ Ray McAnally is superb as Perkins, the embodiment of every red-blooded Labour supporter’s wishful thinking: the “if only” candidate of their dreams. It stars Ray McAnally as the newly elected left-wing prime minister Harry Perkins, who soon finds himself up to his neck in conspiracy. The miniseries is, as a result, a dark and grainy world full of enemies and thinly veiled threats. They tried every dirty trick on him, particularly media vilification. He duly takes the opportunity to thank the mass of “simple-minded fools” who just voted him into office. I don’t read a lot of novels because I prefer non-fiction books. The movie. It is then that a few partisan members of his own intelligence service together with a powerful media baron(shades of R.Murdoch) decide to take matters into their own hands and initiate measures to ensure that Harry Perkins is brought back into line. Despite being in high office, he clings fast to his working-class origins – the shaving mug that was his sole inheritance, the tales of bar-room etiquette in Sheffield, the assurances to the media that he is “just a simple-minded northern lad”. Discover releases, reviews, track listings, recommendations, and more about Jah Wobble Featuring Keith Levene, Richard Dudanski, Mark Stewart, Andrew Weatherall & Youth - A Very British Coup at Discogs. A steelworker he was, however, and he is full of steely resolve, forged in still white-hot rage at the uncompensated death of his grandfather in an industrial accident. Do it, period! Their main concern of course is how far left the Kings new first minister is going to take them. It stars Ray McAnally as the newly elected left-wing prime minister Harry Perkins, who soon finds himself up to his neck in conspiracy. 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