The Undeclared War imagines a Britain with Boris Johnson finally gone, Ukraine fallen and cyber attacks crippling the country. Will audiences buy it? We examine the pitfalls of political TV
It is 15 months since Boris Johnson lost a vote of confidence and was replaced in Number 10 by the UK’s first prime minister of colour. With an election looming, the Conservatives are seeking to extend their 14 years in power, but this new PM needs to watch out for the icy blond foreign secretary who sought the job herself. The year is 2024.
This is the scenario of The Undeclared War, a provocative six-part drama created by Peter Kosminsky, who directed 2015’s Wolf Hall and, a decade earlier, The Government Inspector, about the death of UN weapons inspector Dr David Kelly. But while those shows dramatised the past, The Undeclared War attempts to present the future – a potentially treacherous enterprise, as shown by the history of shows overtaken, or even pulled off air, by actual political events. Continue reading...
