A Very British Coup

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A Very British Coup is a 1982 novel by British politician Chris Mullin. In 1988, the novel was adapted for television, with a screenplay by Alan Plater and starring Ray McAnally. The television series, first screened on Channel 4, won Bafta and Emmy awards, and was syndicated to more than 30 countries.

Contents 1 Plot (TV version) 2 Main characters 3 Analysis 4 Differences between novel and TV 5 See also 6 External links

[edit] Plot (TV version)

Harry Perkins, an unassuming, working class, very left-wing Labour politician is elected Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in March 1989. The priorities of the Perkins Government include dissolving all newspaper monopolies, removing all American military bases on U.K. soil, unilateral nuclear disarmament, and true open government. Immediately, the right wing and allies scheme to depose him, with the U.S. the key, but covert, conspirator.

However Harry finds support in that of Joan Cook, a loyal Member of Parliament (MP) and Home Secretary; and Thompson, Perkins' Press Secretary; Inspector Page, his Head of Security and Monty Kowalski, his Military Advisor.

[edit] Main characters

• Harry Perkins MP, Prime Minister and Leader of the Labour Party - played by Ray McAnally
• Sir Percy Browne, Head of MI5, head conspirator - played by Alan MacNaughton
• Frederick Thompson, former reporter and Perkins' Press Secretary - played by Keith Allen
• Lawrence Wainwright MP, Chancellor of the Exchequer, later Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, conspirator - played by Geoffrey Beevers
• Joan Cook MP, Home Secretary, later Chancellor of the Exchequer – played by Marjorie Yates
• Tom Newsome MP, Foreign Secretary, resigns over affair - played by Jim Carter
• Sir George Fison, owner of a consortium of newspapers, conspirator - Played by Philip Madoc
• Alford, Director of the BBC, conspirator - played by Jeremy Young
• Fiennes, assistant to Browne - played by Tim McInnerny
• Marcus Morgan, ally of Harry Perkins, U.S. Secretary of State - played by Shane Rimmer
• Thomas Andrews MP, Leader of the Conservative Party, Prime Minister before Harry Perkins - played by Roger Brierley
• Inspector Page, Head of Security for the Prime Minister - played by Bernard Kay
• Sir Monty Kowalski, Military Advisor to Harry Perkins - played by Oscar Quitak
• Sir Horace Tweed, Prime Minister's PPS - played by Oliver Ford Davies
• Sir James Robertson, Cabinet Secretary - played by David McKail
• Helen Jarvis, former lover of Perkins - played by Kika Markham
• Official bomb examiner - played by Andy Croft

[edit] Analysis

The book was written in 1981, at a time when Tony Benn, who was personally popular, looked likely to become leader of the Labour Party which at the time was strongly challenging the government of Mrs. Thatcher in the opinion polls. It also has strong echoes of the persistent rumours that have circulated over the years about attempts by the British security services, and other wings of the British Establishment, to undermine and depose Harold Wilson's Labour government of the mid-1970s. This first became widespread public knowledge around 1986 with the controversy around Spycatcher, after the publication of the novel but before the broadcast of the TV version.

[edit] Differences between novel and TV

The endings of the novel and the television version are significantly different. In the novel the Prime Minister is ultimately forced from office following a catastrophic nuclear accident at an experimental nuclear plant that he had pushed for during his role as Secretary of State for Energy during a previous administration (the most explicit parallel between Harry Perkins and Tony Benn in the novel).

In the TV version the Prime Minister is presented with forged evidence of financial irregularity following a long running affair, with the suggestion that he should resign rather than see the story made public. He agrees to make a resignation speech on live TV, but instead announces the attempted blackmail to the world along with a snap election. As the screen fades to black we hear the distinctive sound of helicopters flying over a radio announcer talking about the morning news with the sound of tanks moving onto the streets of Britain in an implied military coup.

[edit] See also

• Politics in fiction
• List of fictional revolutions and coups
• Harold Wilson conspiracy theories
• Seven Days in May

[edit] External links

• A Very British Coup at the Internet Movie Database
• Chris Mullin, The Guardian, 7 March 2006, "When the threat of a coup seemed more than fiction"
• A Very British Coup at the BFI's Screenonline

Preceded by Tutti Frutti

British Academy Television Awards Best Drama Series or Serial 1989

Succeeded by Mother Love