Series
Absolute Power
Comedy
Stephen Fry and John Bird star as spin doctors Charles Prentiss and Martin McCabe as they bring the popular and satirical Radio 4 comedy Absolute Power to BBC Two. Stephen as Prentiss and John as McCabe are an unscrupulous pair who run the blue chip PR agency Prentiss McCabe. Dealing with commercial as well as personal PR, their remit covers everything from political communications to celebrity media relations. Their manipulation skills are tested to the full as they frequently find that their work brings them into conflict with political parties, newspaper editors and celebrities.
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Seasons & episodes
1History Man10 Nov 2003 · 30mPrentiss McCabe client, Nigel Harting, is a celebrated presenter of television history programmes, who specialises in revealing sensational facts. But he has a secret. Newspaper editor, Marcus Payne, has discovered that Nigel plays fast and loose with his sources. A letter in Latin proving that Anne of Cleves was actually a man is an outright fake. Marcus agrees to shelve this career-destroying revelation if Charles can dig up some shocking and rather more tabloid-compatible filth about Nigel's private life. Meanwhile, Prentiss McCabe is saddled with Big Brother contestant Teresa, recruited as a client because she stripped in the shower. She is now revealed as a bully and a bore and demands that Martin supervises the promotion of her huge and appalling novel.
2Pope Idol17 Nov 2003 · 30mMartin and Jamie sense that the world of PR is changing. The profession has developed such a bad reputation that it could do with a bit of spin-doctoring itself. To show that they can make a good impression as well as making money, Prentiss McCabe takes p
3Tory Woman24 Nov 2003 · 30mHow does one go about re-launching a junior shadow spokeswoman who has been marginalised in the Tory party? She referred to her leader as ""pork bum"" and her last ditch attempt to stay in the mainstream of politics is to sponsor a 'Right To Retire' campaig
4Mr. Fox1 Dec 2003 · 30mWhen Health Secretary Simon Wellington wins an injunction preventing newspapers from reporting an incident on Hampstead Heath in which he was allegedly mugged by two men, Charles agrees to help Wellington keep his job. But the survival strategy is threate
5Country Life8 Dec 2003 · 30mSuccessful novelist Roddy Growse orchestrates the appointment of Prentiss McCabe to represent The Real Country Union, a pressure group that has decided to launch itself as a political party. The group is the brain child of Lord Harcourt who in Charles' ju
6Crash and Burn15 Dec 2003 · 30mA hugely lucrative golden handcuff deal is jeopardised when one of Charles' most successful clients, the stand-up comedian Alan Boardman, is caught on CCTV camera beating up his girlfriend in the Ikea car park. The strategy Charles proposes to save his career is, even by Prentiss McCabes' shoddy moral standards, as unethical as it is shocking. An apocalyptic end seems inevitable for the sultans of spin. Meanwhile in an attempt to sex up their image, the Tory party have approached Prentiss McCabe to launch a youth-led campaign - should they choose as their anthem I Have A Dream by Westlife, It's OK by Atomic Kitten or Blue's All Rise?
Details
- First aired
- 10 Nov 2003
- Last aired
- 25 Aug 2005
- Status
- Ended
- Language
- English
- Network
- BBC Two
- Episodes
- 12
- Votes
- 23 on TMDB
Cast
John BirdMartin McCabe
Stephen FryCharles Prentiss
Geoffrey Palmer
Sally BrettonCat Durnford
Nicholas Burns
James Lance
Zoe Telford
