the amazing mrs. pritchard

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The Amazing Mrs Pritchard
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
The Amazing Mrs Pritchard
Format Drama
Created by Jane Featherstone
Starring Jane Horrocks
Steven Mackintosh
Jodhi May
Janet McTeer
Geraldine James
Selina Cadell
Country of origi
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The Amazing Mrs Pritchard
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
The Amazing Mrs Pritchard
Format Drama
Created by Jane Featherstone
Starring Jane Horrocks
Steven Mackintosh
Jodhi May
Janet McTeer
Geraldine James
Selina Cadell
Country of origin United Kingdom
No. of episodes 6
Production
Running time 60 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel BBC
Picture format 1080i (HDTV)
Original run 3 October 2006 � 7 November 2006
External links
IMDb profile
The Amazing Mrs Pritchard is a British television programme produced by Kudos for BBC One. It was written by Sally Wainwright and stars Jane Horrocks in the title role of an ordinary woman who becomes Prime Minister. It ran for six episodes from 3 October 2006 to 7 November 2006.

Contents
1 Background
2 Cast
2.1 Main
2.2 Guests and cameos
3 Plot
4 Characters
5 Episodes
6 DVD Release
7 References
8 External links



[edit] Background
Sally Wainwright stated her motivation for writing the series was the realisation that:

"During the last election I found that I didn't really want to vote for anybody because they all seemed as bad as each other. I thought it would be great fun to write an epic story with a central character who was prepared to stand up and point this out. Mrs Pritchard is bold enough, or some may say daft enough, to stand for parliament on the assumption that she can do just as badly as any of them but at least she will be honest".
The Amazing Mrs Pritchard was filmed in London in April 2006, and the episodes were broadcast at 9:00 PM on Tuesdays. It fared poorly in the ratings, attracting 3.5 million viewers in the final episode. The final episode left the PM's future uncertain, but in internationally distributed packages, text titles at the end of the show answer the main unresolved questions.


[edit] Cast

[edit] Main
Jane Horrocks - Rosamund 'Ros' Jane Pritchard
Steven Mackintosh - Ian Pritchard
Carey Mulligan - Emily Pritchard
Jemma McKenzie-Brown - Georgina Pritchard
Jodhi May - Miranda Lennox
Janet McTeer - Catherine Walker
Frances Tomelty - Kitty Porter
Geraldine James - Hilary Rees-Benson
Selina Cadell - Dorothy Crowther
Meera Syal - Liz Shannon
Siobhan Finneran - Beverley Clarke
Jonathan Aris - Richard Leavis
Sally Phillips - Meg Bayliss
Tom Mison - Ben Sixsmith

[edit] Guests and cameos
Several politicians and journalists made cameo appearances, including Gavin Esler, Roy Hattersley, John Humphrys, Nick Robinson, David Steel, Andrew Marr, Simon McCoy, Sarah Montague, Peter Snow and Kirsty Wark.


[edit] Plot
The Amazing Mrs Pritchard revolves around supermarket manager Ros Pritchard, who, angry with the state of British politics, stands for election as an independent candidate in her home town of Eatanswill, Yorkshire[1]. She soon gains national attention and wins the general election, becoming Prime Minister.


[edit] Characters
Rosamund 'Ros' Jane Pritchard is a supermarket manager who creates her own party, the Purple Democratic Alliance. Ros succeded Tony Blair having won the general election by a huge landslide. When she first came to the job she knew nothing about politics but with the help of her advisor Catherine Walker who later became Deputy Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer she warmed to the job dealing with crises such as a plane exploding over Walhamstow and proposing a one day a week car ban. Her main opponent is Paul Crichley, Conservative Leader and Leader of the Opposition.

Ian Pritchard is Ros' husband. He doubted her campaign, and later admitted he didn't vote for her. Ian laundered money way before her office, a scandal which may force her to resign.

Emily Pritchard is Ros' older daughter. She was a student at the University of Sussex, but dropped out. A magazine deal saw naked pictures of her projected onto the Houses of Parliament.

Georgina Pritchard is Ros' younger daughter.

Catherine Walker is the Deputy Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer. She was having a sexual relationship with her speechwriter Ben Sixsmith and got pregnant by him but she aborted the baby. She was at Oxford University and had a chance to go to Princeton University but her tutor Hilary Rees-Benson didn't give it to her. She was formerly in love with Paul Critchley but he cheated on her when she was Conservative Shadow Health Minister.

Hilary Rees-Benson is the Home Secretary in Ros' government. She was a former Home Affairs spokesman and has an ongoing conflict with Catherine Walker. Rees-Benson leaked a potenial number of secrets to the writer Alex Rafael in Pritchard's government which damaged it. She almost had to resign but agreed absolute loyalty to Ros. Hilary has been known to take Ros's side in the cabinet meetings and pulled off Green Wednesday, a car ban on every Wednesday.

Dorothy Crowther is the Foreign Secretary. She was a Foreign Office Minister in the previous Labour Government. She plays no major part in the series.


[edit] Episodes
# Airdate Overview Ratings
1 3 October After an incident between the Conservative and Labour candidates outside her supermarket Greengages, Ros Pritchard decides to stand for Parliament in the upcoming general election. She soon appears on Newsnight, and within days her new party, The Purple Democratic Alliance, has over 150 candidates and thanks to her manager, Kitty Porter, a campaign fund of ￡10million. While her two daughters, Emily and Georgina, are very supportive, her husband Ian tries to persuade her to pull out, especially when The Sun publishes an article about him. Soon, even MPs are defecting to her party, and even a frontbench Conservative, Catherine Walker, defects. On voting day, 12 May, Ian votes for the Liberal Democrats, and again tries to persuade her to stop, and secretly this is because of things in his past he is worried will come out, but these have already been dealt with. On election night, Ros accompanies Dave, one of her workers, to the hospital, and there she gets a call from Tony Blair congratulating her on winning the election. 4.3 million (19% audience share)[2]
2 10 October Ros has won the election with 54% of the vote and 378 seats, the Conservatives are the Official Opposition with 147 seats, while Labour has 121 seats. The Queen (played by Dilys Laye) asks her to form the next Government, and after some reluctance, Ros does so and then meets Richard Leavis, her new Principal Private Secretary. But, she soons finds life at the top very demanding, and her first decision has to be made when a helicopter crashes in Iran and two British soldiers are stuck in the country. On her first evening at No 10, she gets advice from Tony Blair on how to escape Whitehall, and she then goes back to Greengages and talks to one of her old colleagues, Kimberly. Soon after, she launches "The Great Debate" where she asks the public for ideas for the Queen's Speech, and one of these is the idea to move Parliament to Bradford, and she includes this in "The People's Queen Speech". Meanwhile, Catherine Walker has been made Chancellor and Deputy Prime Minister, Hilary Rees-Benson (a former Liberal Democrat MP) is Home Secretary, and former Labour MP Dorothy Crowther became Foreign Secretary. Also, Georgina insists on going to a London school, and asks to be sent to Jericho Road School, a run down, inner city comprehensive. 4 million[3]
3 17 October The House of Lords refuses to pass Ros's Parliamentary Reform Bill because of the clause moving Government to Bradford, and Ros wants to use the Parliament Act to bypass the Lords, but Catherine Walker tries to persuade her not to. However, after days of thinking she does invoke the Parliament Act. Meanwhile, a book about Ros's rise to power is published, and it's heavily critical of Catherine and says that Ros and Ian's marriage is in a bad state, which they both know has an element of truth. A visit from an African President is going well until Ros has to tell him that his whole family has been killed. Also, Georgina gets a boyfriend from school and when Emily poses for a lads' magazine, the image is projected onto the side of Parliament. She then spends the ￡20,000 she got on a sports car, which leads to Ian telling her how he once laundered ￡10,000.
4 24 October Twelve months since her election, Ros is still continuing with her radical agenda with the new Parliament to open in 2010. However, when a Lithuanian plane crashes over Walthamstow, Ros says she will resign if it is the result of terrorism, but it turns out to be because a piece of EU legislation allowed for less stringent safety guidelines. Meanwhile, after a night on the town, Junior Health Minister Beverley Clarke has to resign after The World newspaper publishes embarrassing pictures of her. She also reveals to Miranda that Kitty paid Liz Shannon ￡125,000 to defect from Labour before the election. Also, Ros finds condoms in Georgina's pocket, while Emily has dropped out of Sussex University and has to be persuaded by Kitty not to tell her mother about Ian's money laundering. 3.4 million (15.6%)[4]
5 31 October At a G8 summit in Vancouver, Ros announces that in a month's time, on 24 June, and every Wednesday after that only essential car journeys will be allowed. Catherine is very doubtful about this especially as there is a by-election in the safe Conservative seat of Stonesfield on the same day. However, when the day comes they not only win the by-election by 342 votes, but also France, Finland, Norway and Germany announce they will join the UK in having a one-day-a-week car ban. Also, Richard Leavis discovers that it was Hilary Rees-Benson who talked to the author of the damaging book that was published. Meanwhile Emily quits as Kitty's apprentice after a fortnight and in anger tells Ros about Ian's money laundering. Catherine, who has been seeing her much-younger than her speechwriter, Ben Sixsmith, for a year, finds out she's pregnant and immediately has an abortion. 3.2 million (14%)[5]
6 7 November After finding out about Ian's money laundering 15 years ago, Ros firstly talks to Miranda and then to Ian, who says one reason he didn't tell her because it was at the time she had 9 miscarriages. After sleeping on it, she decides she will not resign or report Ian to the police. However, a journalist who found out about the secret at the same time Kitty did now wants a lucrative Home Office contract to go to a company he's associated with. Ros then tries to persuade the Home Secretary to give his company the contract, but, worried, she goes to Catherine, who the gets the truth out of Ros. The decision Ros then makes whether to resign or divorce Ian is not revealed. Also, Catherine tries to cope with her abortion, while Ben is annoyed and leaves her, but after talking to Ros, Catherine proposes to Ben. However, when asked to kiss Ben in public, she refused.
Note: In international packages of this show (such as Knowledge Network in British Columbia) text titles at the end of this show state that Mrs. Pritchard resigned as Prime Minister and she and her husband live happily at home with their family in Eatanswill, and that Catherine Walker became Prime Minister and is successfully leading the Purple Alliance.
3.5 million (10%)[6]


[edit] DVD Release
A Region 1 DVD release is planned for October 30, 2007[7]. No current plans exist to release the series on DVD in the United Kingdom or in a format compatible with the UK's Region 2 DVD players.


[edit] References
^ A reference to The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens, which describes in chapter 13 the corrupt Eatanswill by-election in the North of England
^ 4m see Trinny and Susannah's ITV debut mediaguardian.co.uk (registration required), accessed 15 November 2006
^ Dressing down for fashionistas mediaguardian.co.uk (registration required), accessed 15 November 2006
^ Mrs Pritchard loses the vote mediaguardian.co.uk (registration required), accessed 15 November 2006
^ Chelsea score winner for ITV1 mediaguardian.co.uk (registration required), accessed 15 November 2006
^ Awards show does ITV1 proud mediaguardian.co.uk (registration required), accessed 15 November 2006

Categories: 2006 television program debuts | 2006 television program series endings | 2000s British television series | BBC high definition programmes | BBC television dramas | Drama television series | Political television series

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The Amazing Mrs Pritchard
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
The Amazing Mrs Pritchard
Format Drama
Created by Jane Featherstone
Starring Jane Horrocks
Steven Mackintosh
Jodhi May
Janet McTeer
Geraldine James
Selina Cadell
Country of origin United Kingdom
No. of episodes 6
Production
Running time 60 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel BBC
Picture format 1080i (HDTV)
Original run 3 October 2006 � 7 November 2006
External links
IMDb profile
The Amazing Mrs Pritchard is a British television programme produced by Kudos for BBC One. It was written by Sally Wainwright and stars Jane Horrocks in the title role of an ordinary woman who becomes Prime Minister. It ran for six episodes from 3 October 2006 to 7 November 2006.

Contents
1 Background
2 Cast
2.1 Main
2.2 Guests and cameos
3 Plot
4 Characters
5 Episodes
6 DVD Release
7 References
8 External links



[edit] Background
Sally Wainwright stated her motivation for writing the series was the realisation that:

"During the last election I found that I didn't really want to vote for anybody because they all seemed as bad as each other. I thought it would be great fun to write an epic story with a central character who was prepared to stand up and point this out. Mrs Pritchard is bold enough, or some may say daft enough, to stand for parliament on the assumption that she can do just as badly as any of them but at least she will be honest".
The Amazing Mrs Pritchard was filmed in London in April 2006, and the episodes were broadcast at 9:00 PM on Tuesdays. It fared poorly in the ratings, attracting 3.5 million viewers in the final episode. The final episode left the PM's future uncertain, but in internationally distributed packages, text titles at the end of the show answer the main unresolved questions.


[edit] Cast

[edit] Main
Jane Horrocks - Rosamund 'Ros' Jane Pritchard
Steven Mackintosh - Ian Pritchard
Carey Mulligan - Emily Pritchard
Jemma McKenzie-Brown - Georgina Pritchard
Jodhi May - Miranda Lennox
Janet McTeer - Catherine Walker
Frances Tomelty - Kitty Porter
Geraldine James - Hilary Rees-Benson
Selina Cadell - Dorothy Crowther
Meera Syal - Liz Shannon
Siobhan Finneran - Beverley Clarke
Jonathan Aris - Richard Leavis
Sally Phillips - Meg Bayliss
Tom Mison - Ben Sixsmith

[edit] Guests and cameos
Several politicians and journalists made cameo appearances, including Gavin Esler, Roy Hattersley, John Humphrys, Nick Robinson, David Steel, Andrew Marr, Simon McCoy, Sarah Montague, Peter Snow and Kirsty Wark.


[edit] Plot
The Amazing Mrs Pritchard revolves around supermarket manager Ros Pritchard, who, angry with the state of British politics, stands for election as an independent candidate in her home town of Eatanswill, Yorkshire[1]. She soon gains national attention and wins the general election, becoming Prime Minister.


[edit] Characters
Rosamund 'Ros' Jane Pritchard is a supermarket manager who creates her own party, the Purple Democratic Alliance. Ros succeded Tony Blair having won the general election by a huge landslide. When she first came to the job she knew nothing about politics but with the help of her advisor Catherine Walker who later became Deputy Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer she warmed to the job dealing with crises such as a plane exploding over Walhamstow and proposing a one day a week car ban. Her main opponent is Paul Crichley, Conservative Leader and Leader of the Opposition.

Ian Pritchard is Ros' husband. He doubted her campaign, and later admitted he didn't vote for her. Ian laundered money way before her office, a scandal which may force her to resign.

Emily Pritchard is Ros' older daughter. She was a student at the University of Sussex, but dropped out. A magazine deal saw naked pictures of her projected onto the Houses of Parliament.

Georgina Pritchard is Ros' younger daughter.

Catherine Walker is the Deputy Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer. She was having a sexual relationship with her speechwriter Ben Sixsmith and got pregnant by him but she aborted the baby. She was at Oxford University and had a chance to go to Princeton University but her tutor Hilary Rees-Benson didn't give it to her. She was formerly in love with Paul Critchley but he cheated on her when she was Conservative Shadow Health Minister.

Hilary Rees-Benson is the Home Secretary in Ros' government. She was a former Home Affairs spokesman and has an ongoing conflict with Catherine Walker. Rees-Benson leaked a potenial number of secrets to the writer Alex Rafael in Pritchard's government which damaged it. She almost had to resign but agreed absolute loyalty to Ros. Hilary has been known to take Ros's side in the cabinet meetings and pulled off Green Wednesday, a car ban on every Wednesday.

Dorothy Crowther is the Foreign Secretary. She was a Foreign Office Minister in the previous Labour Government. She plays no major part in the series.


[edit] Episodes
# Airdate Overview Ratings
1 3 October After an incident between the Conservative and Labour candidates outside her supermarket Greengages, Ros Pritchard decides to stand for Parliament in the upcoming general election. She soon appears on Newsnight, and within days her new party, The Purple Democratic Alliance, has over 150 candidates and thanks to her manager, Kitty Porter, a campaign fund of ￡10million. While her two daughters, Emily and Georgina, are very supportive, her husband Ian tries to persuade her to pull out, especially when The Sun publishes an article about him. Soon, even MPs are defecting to her party, and even a frontbench Conservative, Catherine Walker, defects. On voting day, 12 May, Ian votes for the Liberal Democrats, and again tries to persuade her to stop, and secretly this is because of things in his past he is worried will come out, but these have already been dealt with. On election night, Ros accompanies Dave, one of her workers, to the hospital, and there she gets a call from Tony Blair congratulating her on winning the election. 4.3 million (19% audience share)[2]
2 10 October Ros has won the election with 54% of the vote and 378 seats, the Conservatives are the Official Opposition with 147 seats, while Labour has 121 seats. The Queen (played by Dilys Laye) asks her to form the next Government, and after some reluctance, Ros does so and then meets Richard Leavis, her new Principal Private Secretary. But, she soons finds life at the top very demanding, and her first decision has to be made when a helicopter crashes in Iran and two British soldiers are stuck in the country. On her first evening at No 10, she gets advice from Tony Blair on how to escape Whitehall, and she then goes back to Greengages and talks to one of her old colleagues, Kimberly. Soon after, she launches "The Great Debate" where she asks the public for ideas for the Queen's Speech, and one of these is the idea to move Parliament to Bradford, and she includes this in "The People's Queen Speech". Meanwhile, Catherine Walker has been made Chancellor and Deputy Prime Minister, Hilary Rees-Benson (a former Liberal Democrat MP) is Home Secretary, and former Labour MP Dorothy Crowther became Foreign Secretary. Also, Georgina insists on going to a London school, and asks to be sent to Jericho Road School, a run down, inner city comprehensive. 4 million[3]
3 17 October The House of Lords refuses to pass Ros's Parliamentary Reform Bill because of the clause moving Government to Bradford, and Ros wants to use the Parliament Act to bypass the Lords, but Catherine Walker tries to persuade her not to. However, after days of thinking she does invoke the Parliament Act. Meanwhile, a book about Ros's rise to power is published, and it's heavily critical of Catherine and says that Ros and Ian's marriage is in a bad state, which they both know has an element of truth. A visit from an African President is going well until Ros has to tell him that his whole family has been killed. Also, Georgina gets a boyfriend from school and when Emily poses for a lads' magazine, the image is projected onto the side of Parliament. She then spends the ￡20,000 she got on a sports car, which leads to Ian telling her how he once laundered ￡10,000.
4 24 October Twelve months since her election, Ros is still continuing with her radical agenda with the new Parliament to open in 2010. However, when a Lithuanian plane crashes over Walthamstow, Ros says she will resign if it is the result of terrorism, but it turns out to be because a piece of EU legislation allowed for less stringent safety guidelines. Meanwhile, after a night on the town, Junior Health Minister Beverley Clarke has to resign after The World newspaper publishes embarrassing pictures of her. She also reveals to Miranda that Kitty paid Liz Shannon ￡125,000 to defect from Labour before the election. Also, Ros finds condoms in Georgina's pocket, while Emily has dropped out of Sussex University and has to be persuaded by Kitty not to tell her mother about Ian's money laundering. 3.4 million (15.6%)[4]
5 31 October At a G8 summit in Vancouver, Ros announces that in a month's time, on 24 June, and every Wednesday after that only essential car journeys will be allowed. Catherine is very doubtful about this especially as there is a by-election in the safe Conservative seat of Stonesfield on the same day. However, when the day comes they not only win the by-election by 342 votes, but also France, Finland, Norway and Germany announce they will join the UK in having a one-day-a-week car ban. Also, Richard Leavis discovers that it was Hilary Rees-Benson who talked to the author of the damaging book that was published. Meanwhile Emily quits as Kitty's apprentice after a fortnight and in anger tells Ros about Ian's money laundering. Catherine, who has been seeing her much-younger than her speechwriter, Ben Sixsmith, for a year, finds out she's pregnant and immediately has an abortion. 3.2 million (14%)[5]
6 7 November After finding out about Ian's money laundering 15 years ago, Ros firstly talks to Miranda and then to Ian, who says one reason he didn't tell her because it was at the time she had 9 miscarriages. After sleeping on it, she decides she will not resign or report Ian to the police. However, a journalist who found out about the secret at the same time Kitty did now wants a lucrative Home Office contract to go to a company he's associated with. Ros then tries to persuade the Home Secretary to give his company the contract, but, worried, she goes to Catherine, who the gets the truth out of Ros. The decision Ros then makes whether to resign or divorce Ian is not revealed. Also, Catherine tries to cope with her abortion, while Ben is annoyed and leaves her, but after talking to Ros, Catherine proposes to Ben. However, when asked to kiss Ben in public, she refused.
Note: In international packages of this show (such as Knowledge Network in British Columbia) text titles at the end of this show state that Mrs. Pritchard resigned as Prime Minister and she and her husband live happily at home with their family in Eatanswill, and that Catherine Walker became Prime Minister and is successfully leading the Purple Alliance.
3.5 million (10%)[6]


[edit] DVD Release
A Region 1 DVD release is planned for October 30, 2007[7]. No current plans exist to release the series on DVD in the United Kingdom or in a format compatible with the UK's Region 2 DVD players.


[edit] References
^ A reference to The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens, which describes in chapter 13 the corrupt Eatanswill by-election in the North of England
^ 4m see Trinny and Susannah's ITV debut mediaguardian.co.uk (registration required), accessed 15 November 2006
^ Dressing down for fashionistas mediaguardian.co.uk (registration required), accessed 15 November 2006
^ Mrs Pritchard loses the vote mediaguardian.co.uk (registration required), accessed 15 November 2006
^ Chelsea score winner for ITV1 mediaguardian.co.uk (registration required), accessed 15 November 2006
^ Awards show does ITV1 proud mediaguardian.co.uk (registration required), accessed 15 November 2006

Categories: 2006 television program debuts | 2006 television program series endings | 2000s British television series | BBC high definition programmes | BBC television dramas | Drama television series | Political television series

Views
Article
Discussion
Edit this page
History
Personal tools
Sign in / create account
Navigation
Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
interaction
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact Wikipedia
Donate to Wikipedia
Help
Search


Toolbox
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Printable version
Permanent link
Cite this article



This page was last modified 04:44, 22 October 2007.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details.)
Wikipedia? is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a U.S. registered 501(c)(3) tax-deductible nonprofit charity.

Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
About this advertisementYour ad heren United Kingdom
No. of episodes 6
Production
Running time 60 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel BBC
Picture format 1080i (HDTV)
Original run 3 October 2006 � 7 November 2006
External links
IMDb profile
The Amazing Mrs Pritchard is a British television programme produced by Kudos for BBC One. It was written by Sally Wainwright and stars Jane Horrocks in the title role of an ordinary woman who becomes Prime Minister. It ran for six episodes from 3 October 2006 to 7 November 2006.

Contents
1 Background
2 Cast
2.1 Main
2.2 Guests and cameos
3 Plot
4 Characters
5 Episodes
6 DVD Release
7 References
8 External links



[edit] Background
Sally Wainwright stated her motivation for writing the series was the realisation that:

"During the last election I found that I didn't really want to vote for anybody because they all seemed as bad as each other. I thought it would be great fun to write an epic story with a central character who was prepared to stand up and point this out. Mrs Pritchard is bold enough, or some may say daft enough, to stand for parliament on the assumption that she can do just as badly as any of them but at least she will be honest".
The Amazing Mrs Pritchard was filmed in London in April 2006, and the episodes were broadcast at 9:00 PM on Tuesdays. It fared poorly in the ratings, attracting 3.5 million viewers in the final episode. The final episode left the PM's future uncertain, but in internationally distributed packages, text titles at the end of the show answer the main unresolved questions.


[edit] Cast

[edit] Main
Jane Horrocks - Rosamund 'Ros' Jane Pritchard
Steven Mackintosh - Ian Pritchard
Carey Mulligan - Emily Pritchard
Jemma McKenzie-Brown - Georgina Pritchard
Jodhi May - Miranda Lennox
Janet McTeer - Catherine Walker
Frances Tomelty - Kitty Porter
Geraldine James - Hilary Rees-Benson
Selina Cadell - Dorothy Crowther
Meera Syal - Liz Shannon
Siobhan Finneran - Beverley Clarke
Jonathan Aris - Richard Leavis
Sally Phillips - Meg Bayliss
Tom Mison - Ben Sixsmith

[edit] Guests and cameos
Several politicians and journalists made cameo appearances, including Gavin Esler, Roy Hattersley, John Humphrys, Nick Robinson, David Steel, Andrew Marr, Simon McCoy, Sarah Montague, Peter Snow and Kirsty Wark.


[edit] Plot
The Amazing Mrs Pritchard revolves around supermarket manager Ros Pritchard, who, angry with the state of British politics, stands for election as an independent candidate in her home town of Eatanswill, Yorkshire[1]. She soon gains national attention and wins the general election, becoming Prime Minister.


[edit] Characters
Rosamund 'Ros' Jane Pritchard is a supermarket manager who creates her own party, the Purple Democratic Alliance. Ros succeded Tony Blair having won the general election by a huge landslide. When she first came to the job she knew nothing about politics but with the help of her advisor Catherine Walker who later became Deputy Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer she warmed to the job dealing with crises such as a plane exploding over Walhamstow and proposing a one day a week car ban. Her main opponent is Paul Crichley, Conservative Leader and Leader of the Opposition.

Ian Pritchard is Ros' husband. He doubted her campaign, and later admitted he didn't vote for her. Ian laundered money way before her office, a scandal which may force her to resign.

Emily Pritchard is Ros' older daughter. She was a student at the University of Sussex, but dropped out. A magazine deal saw naked pictures of her projected onto the Houses of Parliament.

Georgina Pritchard is Ros' younger daughter.

Catherine Walker is the Deputy Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer. She was having a sexual relationship with her speechwriter Ben Sixsmith and got pregnant by him but she aborted the baby. She was at Oxford University and had a chance to go to Princeton University but her tutor Hilary Rees-Benson didn't give it to her. She was formerly in love with Paul Critchley but he cheated on her when she was Conservative Shadow Health Minister.

Hilary Rees-Benson is the Home Secretary in Ros' government. She was a former Home Affairs spokesman and has an ongoing conflict with Catherine Walker. Rees-Benson leaked a potenial number of secrets to the writer Alex Rafael in Pritchard's government which damaged it. She almost had to resign but agreed absolute loyalty to Ros. Hilary has been known to take Ros's side in the cabinet meetings and pulled off Green Wednesday, a car ban on every Wednesday.

Dorothy Crowther is the Foreign Secretary. She was a Foreign Office Minister in the previous Labour Government. She plays no major part in the series.


[edit] Episodes
# Airdate Overview Ratings
1 3 October After an incident between the Conservative and Labour candidates outside her supermarket Greengages, Ros Pritchard decides to stand for Parliament in the upcoming general election. She soon appears on Newsnight, and within days her new party, The Purple Democratic Alliance, has over 150 candidates and thanks to her manager, Kitty Porter, a campaign fund of ￡10million. While her two daughters, Emily and Georgina, are very supportive, her husband Ian tries to persuade her to pull out, especially when The Sun publishes an article about him. Soon, even MPs are defecting to her party, and even a frontbench Conservative, Catherine Walker, defects. On voting day, 12 May, Ian votes for the Liberal Democrats, and again tries to persuade her to stop, and secretly this is because of things in his past he is worried will come out, but these have already been dealt with. On election night, Ros accompanies Dave, one of her workers, to the hospital, and there she gets a call from Tony Blair congratulating her on winning the election. 4.3 million (19% audience share)[2]
2 10 October Ros has won the election with 54% of the vote and 378 seats, the Conservatives are the Official Opposition with 147 seats, while Labour has 121 seats. The Queen (played by Dilys Laye) asks her to form the next Government, and after some reluctance, Ros does so and then meets Richard Leavis, her new Principal Private Secretary. But, she soons finds life at the top very demanding, and her first decision has to be made when a helicopter crashes in Iran and two British soldiers are stuck in the country. On her first evening at No 10, she gets advice from Tony Blair on how to escape Whitehall, and she then goes back to Greengages and talks to one of her old colleagues, Kimberly. Soon after, she launches "The Great Debate" where she asks the public for ideas for the Queen's Speech, and one of these is the idea to move Parliament to Bradford, and she includes this in "The People's Queen Speech". Meanwhile, Catherine Walker has been made Chancellor and Deputy Prime Minister, Hilary Rees-Benson (a former Liberal Democrat MP) is Home Secretary, and former Labour MP Dorothy Crowther became Foreign Secretary. Also, Georgina insists on going to a London school, and asks to be sent to Jericho Road School, a run down, inner city comprehensive. 4 million[3]
3 17 October The House of Lords refuses to pass Ros's Parliamentary Reform Bill because of the clause moving Government to Bradford, and Ros wants to use the Parliament Act to bypass the Lords, but Catherine Walker tries to persuade her not to. However, after days of thinking she does invoke the Parliament Act. Meanwhile, a book about Ros's rise to power is published, and it's heavily critical of Catherine and says that Ros and Ian's marriage is in a bad state, which they both know has an element of truth. A visit from an African President is going well until Ros has to tell him that his whole family has been killed. Also, Georgina gets a boyfriend from school and when Emily poses for a lads' magazine, the image is projected onto the side of Parliament. She then spends the ￡20,000 she got on a sports car, which leads to Ian telling her how he once laundered ￡10,000.
4 24 October Twelve months since her election, Ros is still continuing with her radical agenda with the new Parliament to open in 2010. However, when a Lithuanian plane crashes over Walthamstow, Ros says she will resign if it is the result of terrorism, but it turns out to be because a piece of EU legislation allowed for less stringent safety guidelines. Meanwhile, after a night on the town, Junior Health Minister Beverley Clarke has to resign after The World newspaper publishes embarrassing pictures of her. She also reveals to Miranda that Kitty paid Liz Shannon ￡125,000 to defect from Labour before the election. Also, Ros finds condoms in Georgina's pocket, while Emily has dropped out of Sussex University and has to be persuaded by Kitty not to tell her mother about Ian's money laundering. 3.4 million (15.6%)[4]
5 31 October At a G8 summit in Vancouver, Ros announces that in a month's time, on 24 June, and every Wednesday after that only essential car journeys will be allowed. Catherine is very doubtful about this especially as there is a by-election in the safe Conservative seat of Stonesfield on the same day. However, when the day comes they not only win the by-election by 342 votes, but also France, Finland, Norway and Germany announce they will join the UK in having a one-day-a-week car ban. Also, Richard Leavis discovers that it was Hilary Rees-Benson who talked to the author of the damaging book that was published. Meanwhile Emily quits as Kitty's apprentice after a fortnight and in anger tells Ros about Ian's money laundering. Catherine, who has been seeing her much-younger than her speechwriter, Ben Sixsmith, for a year, finds out she's pregnant and immediately has an abortion. 3.2 million (14%)[5]
6 7 November After finding out about Ian's money laundering 15 years ago, Ros firstly talks to Miranda and then to Ian, who says one reason he didn't tell her because it was at the time she had 9 miscarriages. After sleeping on it, she decides she will not resign or report Ian to the police. However, a journalist who found out about the secret at the same time Kitty did now wants a lucrative Home Office contract to go to a company he's associated with. Ros then tries to persuade the Home Secretary to give his company the contract, but, worried, she goes to Catherine, who the gets the truth out of Ros. The decision Ros then makes whether to resign or divorce Ian is not revealed. Also, Catherine tries to cope with her abortion, while Ben is annoyed and leaves her, but after talking to Ros, Catherine proposes to Ben. However, when asked to kiss Ben in public, she refused.
Note: In international packages of this show (such as Knowledge Network in British Columbia) text titles at the end of this show state that Mrs. Pritchard resigned as Prime Minister and she and her husband live happily at home with their family in Eatanswill, and that Catherine Walker became Prime Minister and is successfully leading the Purple Alliance.
3.5 million (10%)[6]


[edit] DVD Release
A Region 1 DVD release is planned for October 30, 2007[7]. No current plans exist to release the series on DVD in the United Kingdom or in a format compatible with the UK's Region 2 DVD players.


[edit] References
^ A reference to The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens, which describes in chapter 13 the corrupt Eatanswill by-election in the North of England
^ 4m see Trinny and Susannah's ITV debut mediaguardian.co.uk (registration required), accessed 15 November 2006
^ Dressing down for fashionistas mediaguardian.co.uk (registration required), accessed 15 November 2006
^ Mrs Pritchard loses the vote mediaguardian.co.uk (registration required), accessed 15 November 2006
^ Chelsea score winner for ITV1 mediaguardian.co.uk (registration required), accessed 15 November 2006
^ Awards show does ITV1 proud mediaguardian.co.uk (registration required), accessed 15 November 2006

Categories: 2006 television program debuts | 2006 television program series endings | 2000s British television series | BBC high definition programmes | BBC television dramas | Drama television series | Political television series

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