Absolute Power

Anyone seen Absolute Power? I completely missed the first series, but found it available for download (before the DVD was out), so decided to have a look after realising it was kind of political.

Fell in love with it.

A brilliant and much underrated show I think. It deserves a lot more recognition than it gets. Utterly brilliant. I'd go so far as to call it the Yes Minister of the 2000s - and I *LOVE* that show. Series two was just as brilliant as the first. Just genius, absolutely genius.

And as mentioned in another thread, its another child of Radio 4. I managed to hunt those down too, and although I've only listened to a couple, they are also very funny. Great show, it really is.

Is that the one with Chris Langham? If so I wonder what they will do if he is sent down and convicted.

No, that's The Thick Of It with Chris Langham. Absolute Power stars Stephen Fry and John Bird as spin doctors.

I love watching Stephen Fry in anything, but I managed to miss most of this when it was on TV. Maybe I should get the dvd.

(P.S. I love The Thick Of It!)

Definitely get the DVD! I'd highly recommend it; very funny and very clever. (And if you don't like it, you've always got eBay.)

Quote: Mike88 @ August 25, 2006, 9:09 AM

Is that the one with Chris Langham? If so I wonder what they will do if he is sent down and convicted.

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Like Aaron says that was "The Thick of It". Apparently if Langham is sent down they're going to switch the focus over to the opposition party so thankfully that won't be the end of the show.

Good to hear. Let's hope it won't be necessary though. I do love the Langham.

Chris Langham has been dropped from The Thick Of It, due to his ongoing court case.

The comedian is currently involved in a child pornography trial, since being arrested in November of last year. As he awaits the outcome of the case, BBC producers have taken the decision to omit him from the Christmas special of the show.

However, they have resisted the urge to re-cast for the role of Hugh Abbott, instead choosing to redirect the focus of the story.

BBC4 controller Janice Hadlow explained: "The Christmas special will be a slightly different story. The law is taking its course. At the moment we're very keen to keep it going."

The special will focus on minister Abbott's opposition MP.

Boo.

Where have you read that report? It's got it all backwards from everything else I've seen. Supposedly, the special was NEVER to feature Chris, as it was - and indeed is - to be a look at the opposition party.

Well, it was the terribly reliable DigitalSpy site, so I'm not surprised it's all wrong.

On the Chris Langham question. If he's convicted will it affect the DVD releases of The Thick Of It and Help? I love both these shows, but fear that if Langham is found guilty, the Beeb will shelve both DVD releases for fear of angering the tabloids (you can already imagine the outraged Daily Mail headlines).

I don't really know, to be honest. It could happen, yes, and that would be a terrible shame. I don't think there's really a precedent either?

There is a sort of precedent. Gary Glitter records don't get played on the BBC anymore. If you ever hear a chart rundown from the seventies or eighties, his singles are briefly mentioned but never played. It doesn't fill me with hope for Help or The Thick Of It.

Paul Whitehouse has strongly hinted that "Help" will be cancelled if he is convicted.

"The Thick of It" will go on I'm sure, but without Langham... the emphasis will have to be shifted further away from the Department of Social Affairs (i.e. more episodes like this Christmas special) or start with a new minister taking over Hugh's job.

The trouble is we can't get any definitive answers as the BBC are, quite understandably, being very careful not to make plans as they don't want to suggest through that action that they believe Langham is indeed guilty.

TBH, I personally couldn't care less if he's found guilty. It's still funny shit, and I want more of it!

Although in response to the Gary Glitter thing, it never really had much effect on Michael Jackson. But then I suppose he was never really convicted officially, was he?