Absolute Power

Absolute Power

Ended First aired 10/Nov/2003 United Kingdom English 2 season(s) 12 episode(s)
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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TimeScore 33% Skip It
Binge Meter 48% Slow Burn
Episode Pulse Quiet 40% activity score
Drop Rate 0% Very Low

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Seasons & Episodes

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Season 2 · Season 2
6 episode(s) · Air date: 21/Jul/2005
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Season Overview

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S2E6
The House of Lords
Air date: 25/Aug/2005 · Runtime: 30 min
Summary

Bugger the House of Lords""; ""Yes, that's exactly the PM's thinking."" The pace of reform in The House of Lords has slowed down, it's still full of the over-privileged, and they keep sending back Government proposals for legislation. So when Charle

Summary

Bugger the House of Lords""; ""Yes, that's exactly the PM's thinking."" The pace of reform in The House of Lords has slowed down, it's still full of the over-privileged, and they keep sending back Government proposals for legislation. So when Charle

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S2E5
Spinning America
Air date: 18/Aug/2005 · Runtime: 30 min
Summary

American fast food sales are down and images of Ronald McDonald are being burned in the streets - could this be linked to Prentiss McCabe's healthy eating campaign? Or is this a backlash of anti-American feeling post-Iraq?Whatever the cause, the Prent

Summary

American fast food sales are down and images of Ronald McDonald are being burned in the streets - could this be linked to Prentiss McCabe's healthy eating campaign? Or is this a backlash of anti-American feeling post-Iraq?Whatever the cause, the Prent

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S2E4
The Nation's Favourite
Air date: 11/Aug/2005 · Runtime: 30 min
Summary

The firm of Prentiss McCabe are over the moon to hear that Jamie has got them a new Oil sheik client, who wants to buy British Airways. That is until Jamie tells them the client's family name is Rezza Bin-Laden (yes the family of THAT bin Laden ). Charles and Martin are adamant that they don't want him for a client, no matter how rich he is. But finally they are persuaded to have a look at him.

Summary

The firm of Prentiss McCabe are over the moon to hear that Jamie has got them a new Oil sheik client, who wants to buy British Airways. That is until Jamie tells them the client's family name is Rezza Bin-Laden (yes the family of THAT bin Laden ). Charles and Martin are adamant that they don't want him for a client, no matter how rich he is. But finally they are persuaded to have a look at him.

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S2E3
Blood Bank
Air date: 04/Aug/2005 · Runtime: 30 min
Summary

The team at Prentis McCabe assume thet Charles is in jail for another month, so they prepare to tackle their new client , Artist, Dean Wheelwright (Richard Katz). It is their job to get him to eneter and win the lucrative turner prize for the years beast contribution to art. However he says he does not want to eneter, so they have a problem.

Summary

The team at Prentis McCabe assume thet Charles is in jail for another month, so they prepare to tackle their new client , Artist, Dean Wheelwright (Richard Katz). It is their job to get him to eneter and win the lucrative turner prize for the years beast contribution to art. However he says he does not want to eneter, so they have a problem.

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S2E2
The Trial
Air date: 28/Jul/2005 · Runtime: 30 min
Summary

Poor Charles finds himself in the dock, after one of Prentis MaCabe's old clients has a fit of conscience and decides to do the worst thing a client can do. He tells the truth about one of Charles' lies, after becoming a christian and repenting.

Summary

Poor Charles finds himself in the dock, after one of Prentis MaCabe's old clients has a fit of conscience and decides to do the worst thing a client can do. He tells the truth about one of Charles' lies, after becoming a christian and repenting.

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S2E1
Identity Crisis
Air date: 21/Jul/2005 · Runtime: 30 min
Summary

The staff of Prentiss MacCabe are worried their phones are being bugged. Charles and Martin have a meeting with their client, the home secretary. The government want to introduce the unpopular identity card and are in desperate need of a PR agency.

Summary

The staff of Prentiss MacCabe are worried their phones are being bugged. Charles and Martin have a meeting with their client, the home secretary. The government want to introduce the unpopular identity card and are in desperate need of a PR agency.

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Season 1 · Season 1
6 episode(s) · Air date: 10/Nov/2003
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S1E6
Crash and Burn
Air date: 15/Dec/2003 · Runtime: 30 min
Summary

A 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?

Summary

A 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?

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S1E5
Country Life
Air date: 08/Dec/2003 · Runtime: 30 min
Summary

Successful 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

Summary

Successful 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

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S1E4
Mr. Fox
Air date: 01/Dec/2003 · Runtime: 30 min
Summary

When 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

Summary

When 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

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S1E3
Tory Woman
Air date: 24/Nov/2003 · Runtime: 30 min
Summary

How 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

Summary

How 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

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S1E2
Pope Idol
Air date: 17/Nov/2003 · Runtime: 30 min
Summary

Martin 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

Summary

Martin 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

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S1E1
History Man
Air date: 10/Nov/2003 · Runtime: 30 min
Summary

Prentiss 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.

Summary

Prentiss 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.

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Cast

Main cast members.

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John Bird
John Bird
Martin McCabe
Stephen Fry
Stephen Fry
Charles Prentiss
Geoffrey Palmer
Geoffrey Palmer
Sally Bretton
Sally Bretton
Cat Durnford
Nicholas Burns
Nicholas Burns
James Lance
James Lance
Zoe Telford
Zoe Telford
Rebecca Front
Rebecca Front
Lynsey Baxter
Lynsey Baxter
Haydn Gwynne
Haydn Gwynne
No Photo
Barbara Horne
Elizabeth De La Mare

Crew

Creators, directors, writers, and production crew.

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Tristram Shapeero
Tristram Shapeero
Director
No Photo
Jon Plowman
Producer
No Photo
Guy Andrews
Writer

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