Cultural depictions of prime ministers of the United Kingdom

Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom depicted in culture

Cultural depictions of prime ministers of the United Kingdom have become commonplace since the term's first use in 1905.[1][2] However, they have been applied to prime ministers who were in office before the first use of the term. They are listed here chronologically from the date of first appointment as prime minister.

William Pitt the Younger

  • Robert Donat in The Young Mr. Pitt (1942)
  • Paul Rogers in Beau Brummell (1954)
  • David Collings in Prince Regent (1979)
  • Number 10 depicts him as prime minister, played by Jeremy Brett
  • Blackadder the Third depicts him anachronistically as a teenager, and also features a younger brother "William Pitt the Even Younger".
  • He is played by Benedict Cumberbatch in the 2006 biographical drama Amazing Grace (2006).

Lord Liverpool

  • Lord Liverpool was the British prime minister in office when Nathan Mayer Rothschild was active as a banker in London, and was played by Gilbert Emery in the film The House of Rothschild (1934).
  • He was also played by Andre van Gyseghem in the TV series Prince Regent (1979).

George Canning

Duke of Wellington

Lord Melbourne

Melbourne has been portrayed in the following film and television productions:

Robert Peel

Lord Palmerston

Palmerston has been portrayed in the following film and television productions:

Lord Derby

Benjamin Disraeli

William Gladstone

Gladstone has been portrayed in the following film and television productions:

Lord Salisbury

Salisbury has been portrayed in the following film and television productions:

A. J. Balfour

Balfour was the subject of two parody novels based on Alice in Wonderland, Clara in Blunderland (1902) and Lost in Blunderland (1903), which appeared under the pseudonym Caroline Lewis; one of the co-authors was Harold Begbie.[4][5]

He was portrayed on television in:

Henry Campbell-Bannerman

Campbell-Bannerman was portrayed by Geoffrey Bayldon in episodes 12 and 13 of tv series Edward the Seventh (1975).

H. H. Asquith

Asquith was portrayed in the following TV series:

David Lloyd George

Bonar Law

  • Bonar Law is briefly mentioned several times in Ken Follett's historical novel Fall of Giants (Book One of the Century Trilogy).
  • Bonar Law plays a supporting, if off-screen, role in Upstairs, Downstairs. He is even said to have recommended family patriarch, Richard Bellamy, to be offered a peerage.
  • His name is referenced by Julian and Sandy in Round the Horne, in a sketch called "Bona Law".
  • Rebecca West's novel Sunflower features a portrait of Bonar Law as the statesman Hurrell.[14]
  • Arnold Bennett's novel Lord Raingo features Bonar Law as the chancellor of the exchequer Hasper Clews.
  • Lord Dunsany gently satirised the quiet way in which government decisions are made which affect many (but with little input from the many) in his short story The Pearly Beach. It begins "We couldn't remember, any of us at the Club, who it was that first invented the twopenny stamp on cheques. There were eight or nine of us there, and not one of us could put a name to him. Of course, a lot of us knew, but we'd all forgotten it. And that started us talking of the tricks memory plays..." The name they were groping for was that of Bonar Law.[citation needed]
  • In the 1981 TV series The Life and Times of David Lloyd George Bonar Law appears in two episodes and is played by Fulton Mackay.[15]

Stanley Baldwin

Baldwin has been portrayed in the following film and television productions:

The character of ‘’Stanley’’ (referred to in his only book appearance as ‘’No. 2’’) from the British children’s book series ‘The Railway Series’’, a Baldwin Class 10-12-D locomotive, was named after Baldwin.[16]

Ramsay MacDonald

  • The main villain of the 1907 novel Lord of the World by Robert Hugh Benson was partly based on MacDonald.[citation needed]
  • In Howard Spring's 1940 novel Fame is the Spur, later made into a 1947 film and a 1982 TV adaptation, the lead character Hamer Shawcross loosely resembles MacDonald; it is the story of a working-class Labour activist who grows into an establishment politician.[17]
  • He is also mentioned and featured in Noël Coward's 1944 film This Happy Breed.
  • In the 1981 television series Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years, MacDonald appears as a significant character in the early episodes and is played by Robert James.
  • In the 1982 film Gandhi he is portrayed by Terrence Hardiman.
  • In Graham Greene's 1934 novel It's a Battlefield, MacDonald's name repeatedly appears in newspapers and on billboards in reference to a visit to Lossiemouth.
  • In the twenty-fourth episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus, original footage of MacDonald entering No. 10 Downing Street is followed by a black-and-white film of him (played by Michael Palin) doing a striptease, revealing garter belt, suspender and stockings.
  • In the 1983 television series Number 10, he was portrayed by Ian Richardson.[18]
  • In Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow, Old Brigadier Ernest Pudding during his initial interwar retirement "started in on a mammoth work entitled Things That Can Happen in European Politics. Begin, of course, with England. 'First,' he wrote, 'Bereshith, as it were: Ramsay MacDonald can die.' By the time he went through resulting party alignments and possible permutations of cabinet posts, Ramsay MacDonald had died."

Neville Chamberlain

Chamberlain has been portrayed in the following films and television productions:

Winston Churchill

Clement Attlee

Literature

Clement Attlee composed this limerick about himself to demonstrate how he was often underestimated:[19]

Few thought he was even a starter.
There were many who thought themselves smarter.
But he finished PM,
CH and OM,
An earl and a Knight of the Garter.

An alternative version also exists, which may reflect Attlee's use of English more closely:[20]

There were few who thought him a starter,
Many who thought themselves smarter.
But he ended PM,
CH and OM,
an Earl and a Knight of the Garter.

Drama

  • Played by Patrick Troughton in Edward & Mrs. Simpson.
  • Played by Patrick Stewart in the 1974 BBC-TV production The Gathering Storm.
  • A character in the play Tom and Clem, by Stephen Churchett. In the original production in 1997, Alec McCowen played Attlee, and Michael Gambon played Tom Driberg.
  • Played by Alan David in the final episode of the BBC sitcom Goodnight Sweetheart.
  • The main character in the BBC Radio 4 Saturday Play episode That Man Attlee. Broadcast on 15 September 2007, it was written by Robin Glendinning, with Bill Wallis playing Attlee.
  • Played by his grandson Richard Attlee, in the TV series Dunkirk in 2004, and in Jerome Vincent's "Stuffing Their Mouths with Gold", the story of how the National Health Service came to be. Broadcast on Radio 4 on 4 July 2008, the day before the 60th anniversary of the founding of the NHS.
  • Played by Bill Paterson in Into the Storm (2009).
  • Played by Michael Sheldon in Three Days in May by Ben Brown on a national tour and at Trafalgar Studios (2011–12).
  • Played by Simon Chandler in the Netflix series The Crown (2016).

Film

  • Attlee is portrayed by David Schofield in Darkest Hour (2017).

Anthony Eden

Literature

  • Eden appears as a character in James P. Hogan's science-fiction novel The Proteus Operation.
  • In Harry Turtledove's novel, The Big Switch, Eden appears as a member of a group of disgruntled MPs who are gathered together by Ronald Cartland after Britain allies with Germany in mid-1940.
  • In Harry Turtledove's Worldwar series of alternate history science-fiction novels, Eden first appears as the representative of the United Kingdom at the peace talks with the alien Race in Cairo. As it does not have nuclear weapons at that point in the story, the United Kingdom is not fully recognised by the Race, but is also too powerful for them to fully discount. Eden attempts to secure full recognition of the United Kingdom by the Race, but fails. Atvar, the Race's commander, notes that Eden is highly competent but attempting to negotiate from a position of weakness. In the succeeding series, Colonization, Eden is prime minister in 1962, leading a government which cultivates close relations with the German Reich. When Germany and the Race go to war, Eden refuses to lend British military assistance to the Reich, though formally supports German efforts against the Race.

Music

  • Eden is mentioned in a song by The Kinks, "She's Bought a Hat Like Princess Marina", from the album Arthur (1969).

Plays

  • Eden appears as a character in the play Never So Good (2008)—portrayed as a hysterical, pill-addicted wreck, spying on members of his own Cabinet by ordering government chauffeurs to report on their comings and goings. He is shown being overwhelmed by the chaos of the Suez Crisis and eventually forced out of office by his Conservative Party colleagues, at the urging of the American government.
  • Eden appears in Peter Morgan's stage play The Audience (2013); in the premiere, he was played by Michael Elwyn).[21] In the 2015 West End revival version, featuring Kristin Scott Thomas as the Queen, Eden is portrayed by Scottish actor David Robb. His scene in the play is a prediction of Eden's audience with the Queen the day before the invasion of Anglo-French forces in Egypt. The conversation that takes place features Eden attempting to feed selected information to the Queen rather than the whole facts about the Suez crisis and the Queen's reaction to the proposed invasion. In the play's 2015 rewrite, the Queen makes reference to Tony Blair, seen in a flashback, and his proposal to send troops to Iraq, likening it to the conversation she'd had with Eden 50 years previously about Suez.

Television

  • As Secretary of State for War in 1940, Eden authorised the setting-up of the Local Defence Volunteers (soon renamed the Home Guard). In the film of the TV sitcom Dad's Army, the (fictional) Walmington-on-Sea platoon is formed in response to Eden's radio broadcast. Platoon second-in-command Sergeant Wilson is flattered when his resemblance to Eden is remarked upon.
  • Eden is portrayed by Jeremy Northam in the Netflix television series The Crown.[22][better source needed]
  • Eden is portrayed by Anthony Calf in the BBC television series Upstairs Downstairs (2010 edition).
  • The first season of the UK TV series The Hour revolves around the Suez Crisis and the effect of journalism and censorship on the public's perception of Eden and his government, as a metaphor for modern Western military involvement in the Middle East.
  • In the Ian Curteis television play Suez 1956 (1979), Michael Gough portrayed Eden.[23]
  • In the 1978 television series Edward & Mrs Simpson he was portrayed by Hugh Fraser

Film

Harold Macmillan

  • Beyond the Fringe (1960–1966)
    • During his premiership in the early 1960s Macmillan was savagely satirised for his alleged decrepitude by the comedian Peter Cook in the stage revue Beyond the Fringe.[25] 'Even when insulted to his face attending the show,' a biographer notes, 'Macmillan felt it was better to be mocked than ignored.'[26] One of the sketches was revived by Cook for television.
  • Suez 1956 (1979)
  • Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years (1981)
  • A Letter of Resignation (1997–98)
    • Set in 1963 during the Profumo scandal, Hugh Whitemore's play A Letter of Resignation, first staged at the Comedy Theatre in October 1997, dramatises the occasion when Macmillan, staying with friends in Scotland, received a political bombshell, the letter of resignation from Profumo, his war minister. Edward Fox portrayed Macmillan with uncanny accuracy, but the play also explores the involvement of MI5 and the troubled relationship between Macmillan and his wife (played by Clare Higgins) who had made no secret of her adultery with the wayward Tory MP, Robert Boothby. The play was directed by Christopher Morahan.
  • Eden's Empire (2006)
    • Macmillan was played by Kevin Quarmby in Gemma Fairlie's production of James Graham's play Eden's Empire at the Finborough Theatre, London, in 2006.
  • Never So Good (2008)
    • Never So Good is a four-act play by Howard Brenton, a portrait of Macmillan against a backdrop of fading Empire, two world wars, the Suez crisis, adultery and Tory politics at the Ritz. Brenton paints the portrait of a brilliant, witty but complex man, tragically out of kilter with his times, an Old Etonian who eventually loses his way in a world of shifting values. The play premiered at the National Theatre in March 2008, directed by Howard Davies with Jeremy Irons as Macmillan.
  • The Crown (2016)
  • Pennyworth (2019)
    • Macmillan is portrayed by Richard Clothier in the Epix series Pennyworth.
  • Nolly (2023)

Alec Douglas-Home

  • The Night They Tried to Kidnap the Prime Minister (2009), played by Tim McInnerny – a BBC Radio 4 drama based on a real-life kidnapping attempt in 1964.[29]
  • The Crown (2016), played by David Annen.

Harold Wilson

Television

  • The Lavender List (2006), played by Kenneth Cranham – a BBC Four fictionalised account by Francis Wheen of the Wilson Government of 1974–1976, with Gina McKee as Marcia Williams and Celia Imrie as Wilson's wife. The play concentrated on Wilson and Williams' relationship and her conflict with the Downing Street Press Secretary Joe Haines.
  • The Plot Against Harold Wilson (2006), played by James Bolam – aired on BBC Two on 16 March 2006. The drama detailed previously unseen evidence that rogue elements of MI5 and the British military plotted to take down the Labour Government, believing Wilson to be a Soviet spy.
  • Longford (2006), played by Robert Pugh – Channel 4 drama on the life of Lord Longford. In one scene, Wilson was seen dismissing Longford from his cabinet in 1968, in part because of the adverse publicity the latter was receiving for his public campaign supporting Myra Hindley, then incarcerated for her involvement in the Moors Murders.
  • In series 3 of The Crown, Harold Wilson is portrayed by Jason Watkins.[30]
  • In Stonehouse, a dramatisation of the career of John Stonehouse, Wilson is portrayed by Kevin McNally.[31]

Film

Other

  • A Viking in the Asterix story Asterix and the Great Crossing (1975) is named Haraldwilssen in the English translation, because the translators felt his physical features resembled Wilson.
  • The Audience (stage play, 2013, played in the premiere production by Richard McCabe)[32]
  • In The Alteration by Kingsley Amis, set in an parallel universe dominated by the Papacy, Pope John XXIV is depicted as a Machiavellian Yorkshireman (a thinly-veiled portrayal of Wilson) who controls the population of Europe through Malthusian means including the use of bacteriological warfare and war with the Ottoman Empire.
  • He is briefly referenced in the Beatles song "Taxman", together with his political opponent Edward Heath.

Edward Heath

James Callaghan

  • The Audience (stage play, 2013, played in the premiere production by David Peart)[32]

Margaret Thatcher

John Major

Tony Blair

Gordon Brown

David Cameron

Theresa May

Boris Johnson

This section is an excerpt from Public image of Boris Johnson § In popular culture.[edit]
Johnson was portrayed by Kenneth Branagh in the 2022 Sky Atlantic drama This England.

The political career of Johnson has been the subject of several television docudramas:

Johnson's bumbling mannerisms and distinctive hairstyle have also made him the subject of parody:

  • In the 2008–2012 children's TV cartoon series Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom, the mayor of Fairy Town, voiced by Alexander Armstrong, is based on Johnson, who was mayor of London at the time.
  • Johnson is voiced by Lewis MacLeod in the fourth and fifth series of 2DTV[42]
  • MacLeod also voices Johnson in Newzoids[43]
  • Johnson is portrayed as half-man and half dog, who would engage in acts of canine behaviour, chasing his tail rather than answering questions, in Headcases. He is voiced by Jon Culshaw[44]
  • The music video for Stormzy's "Vossi Bop" features backup dancers donning wigs similar to Boris's hairstyle and throwing them on the ground just as the line “fuck the government, fuck Boris” comes in.[45]
  • In 2019, James Corden portrayed Johnson in a sketch on Saturday Night Live[46]
  • In the 2020 revival of Spitting Image, Johnson's puppet is voiced by Matt Forde[47]

Johnson has been the subject of British music and music media:

References

  1. ^ "History of Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
  2. ^ "Henry Campbell-Bannerman | British Prime Ministers through the ages". Archived from the original on 2 April 2017. Retrieved 1 April 2017.
  3. ^ Fullerton, Hugh (4 July 2018). "Victoria: Who was Sir Robert Peel?". Radio Times. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  4. ^ Sigler, Carolyn, ed. (1997). Alternative Alices: Visions and Revisions of Lewis Carroll's "Alice" Books. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky. pp. 340–347.
  5. ^ Dickinson, Evelyn (20 June 1902). "Literary Note and Books of the Month". United Australia. II (12).
  6. ^ "Books: The Welsh Wizard". Time. 23 June 1961.
  7. ^ Goodlad, Graham; Wells, Tom (2010). "England, 1900–1924: This is the song: Lloyd George Knew My Father". Sempringham Publishing. Archived from the original on 31 December 2010. Retrieved 7 September 2010.
  8. ^ "2010 UK Memory of the World Register". 2010. Archived from the original on 3 August 2010. Retrieved 4 June 2011.
  9. ^ "BBC Genome". March 1946. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
  10. ^ Moscow — Genoa at IMDb Edit this at Wikidata
  11. ^ Young Winston at IMDb Edit this at Wikidata
  12. ^ Garner, Stanton B. (1999). Trevor Griffiths: Politics, Drama, History. University of Michigan Press. p. 105.
  13. ^ The Life and Times of David Lloyd George at IMDb Edit this at Wikidata
  14. ^ Literary London, books.google.co.uk; accessed 2 April 2017.
  15. ^ "The Life and Times of David Lloyd George". IMDb. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
  16. ^ The Rev. W. Awdry; G Awdry (1987). The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways. Kaye & Ward. p. 41. ISBN 0-434-92762-7.
  17. ^ Fame is the Spur Archived 4 December 2016 at the Wayback Machine Britmovie
  18. ^ Billington, Michael (10 February 2007). "Ian Richardson". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  19. ^ Jones, Barry. Dictionary of World Biography, 1998
  20. ^ Source: Kenneth Harris, Attlee (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1982)
  21. ^ Rentoul, John (27 January 2013). "Yes, Prime Ministers!". The Independent. Retrieved 16 August 2013.
  22. ^ Kenji Lloyd (7 January 2016). "The Crown trailer: First look at Peter Morgan's Netflix drama". Final Reel. Archived from the original on 17 February 2017. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
  23. ^ a b 'Personal Choice', The Times (London, 24 November 1979), 11.
  24. ^ Taylor, Jeremy (3 March 2017). "FT Masterclass: Stamp collecting with Samuel West". Financial Times. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  25. ^ Horne, Macmillan, vol. II, p. 454.
  26. ^ D. R. Thorpe, 'A Psychologically Interesting Prime Minister', Premiere of Never So Good (London: National Theatre, 2008).
  27. ^ "Filming The Crown: on the set of the lavish Netflix series – in pictures". The Guardian. 1 November 2016. Retrieved 1 November 2016.
  28. ^ "Nolly". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  29. ^ "The Night They Tried to Kidnap the Prime Minister". BBC. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
  30. ^ "'The Crown' Enlists Jason Watkins as Harold Wilson". The Hollywood Reporter. 3 May 2018.
  31. ^ "Meet the cast of Stonehouse and their real-life counterparts". Radio Times. 5 January 2023. Retrieved 14 February 2023.
  32. ^ a b Gans, Andrew (26 February 2017). "Edward Fox Will Replace Injured Robert Hardy in London World Premiere of The Audience". Playbill. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
  33. ^ "The Windsors (2016– ) Full Cast & Crew". IMDb. Retrieved 22 May 2019.
  34. ^ "Theresa vs. Boris: How May Became PM". IMDb. Retrieved 22 May 2019.
  35. ^ "A Very Social Secretary". Daybreak Pictures. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
  36. ^ Parker, Robin (27 July 2009). "Cast emerges for More4's young Tories drama". Broadcast.
  37. ^ O'Donovan, Gerard (18 June 2017). "Theresa v Boris: How May Became PM review: an odd yet ambitious concotion". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 10 January 2022. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
  38. ^ Wollaston, Sam (19 June 2017). "Theresa vs Boris: How May Became PM review – a timely mix of treachery and Mayhem". The Guardian.
  39. ^ Bennett, Asa (28 December 2018). "Brexit: The Uncivil War review: Benedict Cumberbatch is superb in this thrilling romp through the referendum". The Daily Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the original on 30 December 2018. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
  40. ^ Elliott, Matthew (4 January 2019). "Vote Leave's Matthew Elliott on Channel 4's Brexit: The Uncivil War". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 24 January 2019. Retrieved 5 May 2021. Screenwriter James Graham has turned the campaign into a compelling story – and nailed my mannerisms.
  41. ^ "Kenneth Branagh transforms into Boris Johnson in uncanny first-look photo for new coronavirus drama". Sky News. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
  42. ^ "2DTV cast and crew credits". British Comedy Guide. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
  43. ^ "Newzoids returns for second series". ITV Press Centre. 9 May 2016. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
  44. ^ "Headcases cast and crew credits". British Comedy Guide. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
  45. ^ Welsh, Daniel (26 April 2019). "Stormzy Lays Into Boris Johnson In Music Video For New Single Vossi Bop". HuffPost UK. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
  46. ^ White, Adam (8 December 2020). "Saturday Night Live: James Corden plays Boris Johnson in 'good-looking bad boys of NATO' sketch". The Independent. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  47. ^ Carr, Flora (2 October 2020). "Spitting Image puppets – here's who appears in the BritBox revival". Radio Times. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  48. ^ Clarke, Patrick (14 December 2020). "Watch Robbie Williams play Boris Johnson in video for festive single 'Can't Stop Christmas'". NME. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  49. ^ Greig, James (23 December 2020). "A Song Called 'Boris Johnson Is a Fucking C*nt' Could Be Christmas Number 1". Vice. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  50. ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100: 25 December 2020 – 31 December 2020". Official Charts Company. 25 December 2020. Retrieved 9 December 2021.