TV Series
| Absolute Power | |
|---|---|
Series title card |
|
| Genre | Comedy Satire |
| Created by | Mark Tavener |
| Directed by | John Morton Tristram Shapeero |
| Starring | Stephen Fry John Bird James Lance Zoe Telford Sally Bretton Nick Burns |
| Composer(s) | Ben Bartlett |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 12 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Jon Plowman |
| Producer(s) | Paul Schlesinger |
| Running time | approx. 29 mins. per episode |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | BBC Two |
| Original run | 10 November 2003 – 25 August 2005 |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | In the Red |
The television series 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 were 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 series has one trainee, the TV version has several young professionals working at the agency. Most notable are Jamie Front (James Lance) and Alison Jackman (Zoe Telford). 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), 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
- Tim Brooke-Taylor
- Angus Deayton
- Gareth David-Lloyd
- Huw Edwards
- Sharon Horgan
- Gareth Hunt
- Mark Lawson
- Dermot Murnaghan
- Geoffrey Palmer
- Anneka Rice
- Chipo Chung
- Phillip Schofield
- John Sessions
- Ray Stubbs
- Anthea Turner
- Kirsty Wark
- Matthew Wright
Read more about this topic: Absolute Power (comedy)
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