My overall impression was that it was good.
Then I watched the companion documentary and I realised that Matthew Macfadyen's characterisation of John Stonehouse was completely false He portrayed him as whimsical and naive, but in truth he was very ordinary, devious and calculated.
Keeley Hawes performance as Barbara Stonehouse was flat at best and when I saw the real person in the documentary she bore little resemblance at all to the portrayal.
In reality she was blonde and had a very upper crust BBC accent. There was no attempt at portraying her in this way in the drama.
In the end the plaudits must go to Kevin McNally (Harold Wilson) and Dorothy Atkinson (Betty Boothroyd), both outstanding.
When the reality can be so easily researched on the Internet I cannot understand why they fiddle with the real story. E.g the ending.
A shame really, but the documentary (The Real John Stonehouse) was more interesting.
Then I watched the companion documentary and I realised that Matthew Macfadyen's characterisation of John Stonehouse was completely false He portrayed him as whimsical and naive, but in truth he was very ordinary, devious and calculated.
Keeley Hawes performance as Barbara Stonehouse was flat at best and when I saw the real person in the documentary she bore little resemblance at all to the portrayal.
In reality she was blonde and had a very upper crust BBC accent. There was no attempt at portraying her in this way in the drama.
In the end the plaudits must go to Kevin McNally (Harold Wilson) and Dorothy Atkinson (Betty Boothroyd), both outstanding.
When the reality can be so easily researched on the Internet I cannot understand why they fiddle with the real story. E.g the ending.
A shame really, but the documentary (The Real John Stonehouse) was more interesting.