The BBC are set to air a controversial drama that was buried for 20 years in light of Keir Starmer’s government taking up office.
The drama was originally created in response to Alistair Campbell and New Labour’s ‘dirty tricks’ that were employed upon the party’s return to government in 1997.
The two-part TV film, titled The Project, starred Matthew Macfadyen and Naomie Harris who played two young and opposing Labour activists across a timeline spanning from Labour’s period as the opposition, up to their election into power in May 1997 as well as their re-election for a second term.
The drama is fictional, but is claimed to be a close representation of real events, being based upon interviews with 120 advisers and MPs.
Rumoured to have angered Alistair Campbell at the height of his influence upon its first and only screening on BBC One in 2002, the drama has not been seen since.
However, the BBC will now re-run the show after director Peter Kosminsky convinced the broadcaster that the show has renewed relevance following on from Labour’s first return to government since Gordon Brown left Downing Street in 2010.
Kosminsky said in an interview with the i: “It’s the first time The Project has been broadcast since 2002 or even seen. But it’s genuinely a piece that turns out to have extraordinarily relevant elements to the current situation.
“Alastair Campbell’s team wrote a letter, which I have seen, asking people not to co-operate. But a large number of people did.
“Was Matthew Macfadyen’s spin doctor inspired by Derek Draper? (Peter Mandelson’s former adviser who died this year from complications arising from Covid). I couldn’t possibly comment but I could see why you would say that.”
An example of the kind of ‘dirty tricks’ the drama put in the spotlight concerns Macfadyen’s character Paul discovering a Tory cabinet minister is having an affair and subsequently searches rubbish bins for letters of guilt, a story which Kosminsky claims is true, however never became public.
Kosminsky said: “The characters start off idealistic about a Labour government, but end up in a pretty dark place. Naomie’s new Labour MP Maggie is physically attacked by one of the whips when she rebels over cuts to the disabled. Paul just can’t stomach it any longer, he just leaves.
“After so many years of Conservative government, they believe anything that Labour back in government is acceptable. But be careful what you wish for.”
Kominsky is currently directing the final series of Wolf Hall for the BBC and is set to create a four part drama about the Grenfell Tower Fire for the same broadcaster and has also said he would like to return The Project for the Starmer government.
He said: “Having watched it again and I was shocked by the coincidence of the situation, Labour coming to power after a long, frustrating period of opposition with high hopes but also announcing that it would stick to Tory spending limits. It was brave of the BBC to commission The Project and also to retransmit it now.
“If somebody said, ‘We’d like you to write the story of these two people 20 years on,’ I’d take it very seriously. Whatever happened to Maggie and Paul, we’d have to see if anyone thinks that’s an interesting thing to do.”
However, Kosminksy has doubts over the homegrown political drama and their future.
“I really don’t know how a drama like The Project would get made now. How would it get funded?” he asked. “It’s not a lack of will from the BBC or Channel 4. They just don’t have the money,” he said.
The director has taken charge on highly politically charged films in the past including the dramatisation of the death of Iraq weapons inspector Dr David Kelly.
He added: “If they do get green lit, they only have micro-budgets and I think that’s a catastrophe for UK broadcasting.”
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