David Tennant's gripping new TV drama, The Politician's Husband begins on BBC Two tonight. The three part series explores power and betrayal in the high-profile world of British politics. Read a preview below.
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The Politician’s
Husband, the new drama series by Paula Milne is described as a companion
piece to the writer’s earlier drama for Channel 4, The Politician’s Wife, and again deals with the themes of a high
profile couple in an inter-marriage power struggle and a wife stepping out from
behind her husband’s shadow.
David Tennant plays Aiden Hoynes, a high flying member of
the cabinet and the golden boy of UK politics. At the opening of the
drama he certainly appears to have it all, a loyal wife (also an MP), the
children, the nanny and clear support from his friends and allies within the
party. However, he soon takes a mis-step that threatens to bring his whole
comfortable lifestyle crashing down.
Using a criticism of the Prime Minister’s immigration
policies as a springboard, Hoynes resigns his cabinet post and launches a
leadership bid. What he doesn’t count on is the cloaked ambition of his close
friend and fellow Member of the House Bruce Babbish (a devious Ed Stoppard) whose
duplicitous betrayal leaves Hoynes reeling, devastated and confined to the back
benches. To add insult to injury, his wife Freya Gardner (Emily Watson) is
promoted to the post of Secretary for Work and Pensions. Loyal to her husband
she intends to decline, but the scheming Hoynes sees a way to exploit her good
fortune to further his own ends and to use Freya as a tool to get his revenge
on those who have thwarted his ambition
With his career on the decline Hoynes is forced too to face
up to the realities of the family life and its challenges that he focused on
his work to avoid. They aren’t, it emerges, the perfect family. Freya and Aiden
have their tensions which are exacerbated by their respective relationships
with their son Noah (Oscar Kennedy), who has Asperger syndrome. Dissatisfied
with his lot in life, Hoynes counts on the influence of Freya to put things
right again for him, but now Freya is starting to realise her own ambitions and
enjoys the novel experience. The little supportive wife is no more.
Much has been made of the sexual politics that mirror the couple’s
public positions but to focus on this – and likewise on David Tennant’s shiny
blond hair – would be very unjust towards a well crafted drama with a focus on
betrayal and trust at its core and an exploration of the struggle for women to
be recognised in their own right in any professional arena. It also tackles the
attraction of power and the sickening slide of disempowerment. With robust
performances from all including Roger Allam as self-serving Chief Whip Marcus
Brock and Jack Shepherd as Aiden’s father Joe the first episode, although
clichéd in places, certainly offers up food for thought in anticipation of the
next instalment.
The Politician's Husband begins on BBC Two tonight at 9pm
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