Political Fictions: political drama on screen and on the page

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David Hare's play about a fictionalised version of the 1992 general election, The Absence of War, is on BBC iPlayer for a limited period. So before it goes, Mark and Cory talk about it with the former leader of Birmingham City Council, John Cotton.

They discuss the reasons Labour lost the 1992 election, whether the play has the right lessons about how to be successful in politics, the dilemmas facing leaders and why political dramas never seem to get the fonts quite right.

Watch The Absence...

Cory and Mark are joined by Shane Whaley of the Spybrary podcast this week. Shane has picked for us to watch First Among Equals, a prime time ITV political drama from the 1980s. As its episodes total up to 494 minutes, this time we're dipping into the first episode only. Take a listen to see if we - and you - want to watch the rest of the series. The series is based on the book by Jeffrey Archer, once a highly praised and successful novelist whose books were festooned with quotes praising his literary abilities. With the advantage of hind...

Mark and Cory are joined by Elinor Taylor for our first book! It is Ellen Wilkinson’s The Division Bell Mystery, a political thriller disguised as a golden age detective story. It is written by one of the country's first female MPs and is full of convincing and vivid political detail about what it is like being a bag carrier for an important minister. The plot's setting is accurate right down to some key architectural detail on which it all hinges. But is it also a good murder mystery? Find out as they discuss ridiculous murder plots, why politicians sho...

Aidan Byrne joins Mark and Cory to watch the classic Mr Smith Goes to Washington. It's a film full of shameless emotional manipulation, especially from some of the children in it. They marvel at the performances of Jimmy Stewart, Claude Rains and especially Jean Arthur, wonder if this film has an anti-FDR message, and Mark takes handwriting experts to task.

You can find Aidan on Blue Sky as Plashing Vole.

Next time, we're reading Ellen Wilkinson's The Division Bell Mystery.

You can view the IMDb page for Mr Smith Goes to Washington here.<...

To coincide with the men's football World Cup, Mark and Cory talk about the 2006 Iranian film Offside, about a group of Iranian women who disguise themselves as men to sneak into a stadium. Mark gets to deploy some football knowledge, they discuss how the film isn't a great advert for national service and ponder the symbolism of Iranian toilet graffiti.

You can view Offside on IMDb here.

Next time, we're watching the classic Mr Smith Goes To Washington.

Cory’s email newsletter is Paperback Rioter and Mark has a family of email newsletters.

O...

To mark ten years since the Brexit referendum, Cory and Mark talk about James Graham's TV movie starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Brexit: The Uncivil War. They talk about the ability of Mark Gatiss to chew scenery without actually being on screen, how the story the film tells of how Leave won has aged rather badly, and Cory has a rant about the most shambolic doorknocking encounter he's ever seen. 

You can view Brexit: The Uncivil War on IMDb here.

Next time, we're watching the 2006 Iranian film Offside.

Cory’s email newsletter is Paperback Rioter and Ma...

Mark and Cory talk about the O.G. of British Political Sitcoms: Yes, Minister. They marvel at the genial Machiavellian genius that is Jim Hacker exploiting the British sausage to win a leadership contest, explain why this episode is a good guide for would-be leadership contenders, and lay it on a bit thick with their marmalade discussion.

If you're in the UK then you can watch this on BBC iPlayer.

Next time, we're watching Brexit: The Uncivil War.

Cory’s email newsletter is Paperback Rioter and Mark has a family of email newsletters.

O...

In a scheduling choice completely unconnected to any contemporary political events, Mark and Cory talk about the 2004 Danish film full of leadership plotting, King's Game. This is a proper conspiracy thriller, where even the children are Machiavellian geniuses. They question whether it really makes sense for plotters to document their evil schemes in such meticulous detail, bemoan the bad use of political polling in the film and debate how useful this film is as a how-to guide for potential leadership candidates.

You can view the IMDb page for King's Game here.

Next time we're talking ab...

Cory and Mark talk about the political film that's probably most likely to be accidentally bought on Amazon: Pablo Larrain's No. It's about a referendum, and one with several parallels with the Brexit vote. Mark fact checks Cory on a number of occasions, they discuss how successful campaigns always seem to have three word slogans, and chew over the significance of a scene involving baguettes.

You can view the IMDb page for No here.

Next time, we're discussing the Danish political thriller King's Game.

Cory’s email newsletter is Paperback Rioter and Mark has a ...

Mark and Cory talk about Scandi Ballot Box dramas for the first time. They discuss the Borgen episode in which there are revelations about how Greenland is being used for CIA rendition programmes. They talk about whether photogenic politicians giving inspirational speeches is all that’s needed to solve the world’s problems, the difficulty of writing political fictions with Donald Trump in the White House, and Mark gets even more excited about a door than usual.

The Borgen IMDb page is here and we discuss the fourth episode of series one.

Cory’s email newslett...

Mark and Cory talk about All The President’s Men, which was released 50 years ago this month.

Mark gets to do his rant about how this film is basically Raiders of the Lost Ark, we ponder whether it’s got the most realistic rubbish of any movie, get very excited about a door and explain why the film presents Queen Elizabeth as launching a bid for absolute rule.

You can listen to Slate’s Slow Burn series on Watergate which Cory recommends here.

Mark talks about Jane Alexander’s Oscar-nominated role as Best Supporting...

Mark and Cory talk about political TV for the first time, and there's nowhere better to start than The Thick of It. After rewatching the first series, they talk about which fictional policy proposals ended up becoming reality, why it's important that focus groups thought Keir Starmer was an eagle, and given that Malcolm Tucker keeps screwing everything up perhaps the secret genius behind the British Government is actually Terri Coverley?

You can view the IMDb page for The Thick of It here and UK listeners can watch the show on BBC iPlayer. If you enjoyed our s...

Mark and Cory talk about James Graham's play This House. The hit play, available to stream from the National Theatre, is about party whips trying to prop up a government without a secure House of Commons majority in the 1970s. Mark and Cory marvel at the kipper ties and rotary dial phones, discuss the importance of treating your political opponents with respect, and ponder whether works of art would be improved if they spent more time celebrating the achievements of Labour governments.   Regular listeners will know we have a 'Phil Woolas award' segment in the show. Our sincere condolences therefore t...

Cory and Mark watch Election, the 1999 film starring Reese Witherspoon and Matthew Broderick. They talk about whether any of the characters in this film are actually likable, the importance of tying string to your pens, and how although so many commentators have compared Reese Witherspoon's character to Hillary Clinton, maybe the best historical parallel in this film is with the Miliband brothers.

You can find the IMDb page for Election here.

The alternative ending which we talk about can be viewed on YouTube.

Next time we're talking about This House, which you can...

In the first episode of Political Fictions, Cory and Mark talk about the 2011 film The Iron Lady. They discuss how the film presents the human side of politicians, what it says about Margaret Thatcher and her legacy, and ponder the appearance of some mysterious milk.   You can view the IMDb page for The Iron Lady here.   Next time we're discussing Election, the 1999 film starring Reese Witherspoon and Matthew Broderick. If you're in the UK it's currently available to watch on iplayer.   As well as appearing in your favourite podcast app, you can find all our episodes online at the show's webs...

Starting in February 2026, join Cory Hazlehurst and Mark Pack as they digest some of the best - and some of the worst - depictions of politics in fiction: film, TV and even the occasional book.

Subscribe in your favourite podcast app or listen online at https://www.politicalfictionspodcast.com/

Our theme tune is "Monkeys Spinning Monkeys" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) and licensed under the Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).