Customer Reviews

Very British Coup [VHS]

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

On first sight A Very British Coup seems impossibly old fashioned, dealing as it does with a left wing British Prime Minister who believes in public ownership, non alignment, and a non-nuclear strategy. He borrows money from the Soviet Union and tells the United States to take its bases out of Britain. As a result right wing elements in Britain, with ample assistance from the US government, do all they can to sabotage his government and force him out of power.

So why watch this now, more than ten years after the end of the Cold War, during a British Labour government that sometimes seems more Thatcherite than Maggie herself? Well, first its a dynamic political thriller with tension that lasts right up until the final, rather equivocal moments. Secondly, it asks some difficult questions about the nature of democracy and the relationship of power and privilege. Thirdly, I think for us American viewers it provides an eye-opening look at how the rest of the world sees us, and its not all that flattering. (Most of the American officials look like prize fighters and bully boys, which is what they turn out to be in the end. The Ugly American indeed!)

The DVD version doesn't have many extra features, just some filmographies of the principal stars and an audio interview with the author, Chris Mullin M.P. This seems to have been originally broadcast on radio and is rather scratchy, but you can hear Big Ben in the distance, which is a nice touch. So I recommend this DVD for political junkies, Anglophiles,and any Americans concerned about our international reputation.

I first saw this video on public television about 10 years ago - I was amazed. I still find it exciting and flawless even though true socialistic ideology is outdated. I liked it so much that I actually paid [the money] for the 3 part video (two cassettes) when it was first released.
I've also read the book by Chris Mullin but found the video to be superior; Harry Perkins is a more witty and affable character.
A correction to the previous review by Mr. Daley: Ray McAnally WAS cast in at least two Hollywood movies; One of them being "My Left Foot" with Daniel Day Lewis. Ray McAnally was an excellent actor, just starting to reach a peak in his career. I was sorry to hear that he died.

Picture if you will a Prime Minister of England who really wants to benefit the majority of the people and not only the "fat cats" who have run the country all through its past. Picture how his foes--not only the powerful but those of the middle class in the pockets of the powerful--would stop at nothing to topple him, not even short of murder. Picture also how a certain even more powerful nation would aid and abet in his downfall since while all the rest talk disarmament he actually begins to disarm!

If you have trouble picturing all this, then you must watch the Acorn Media release of the first Masterpiece Theatre presentation that did not take place in the British past or present but in the very near future. It is called "A Very British Coup" (AMP-8617) and stars Ray McAnally as Prime Minister Harry Perkins who knows too well what it is like to be poor and oppressed and he is pitted against Sir Percy Browne (Alan MacNaughtan), who is both the head of MI5 and an upper-class militant determined not to enfranchise anyone below him. He feels he owes it to his ancestors; Perkins feels the same about his own.

Add to those two a list of the most frightening behind-the-scenes characters who, although never elected, actually run the government--the press barons, the BBC, the union leaders, even the local constabulary--and you can see how important, let alone how pertinent, this story is to our present situation. There is an audio interview with the author that might be of some value.

Grab this one--and teachers of Political Science, take careful notice.

This is propaganda without a shade of subtlety or nuance; I understand leftist Brits go in for this sort of thing. Story's Harry Perkins is a paragon throughout, and don't you know good intentions beat back all troubles. His enemies do not possess a shred of decency of course, just like in the real world where everyone who opposes unions is a big poopy head. For people who prefer cartoons to reality only.

"A man who is weary of Mozart is weary of life," says Harry Perkins, the newly elected and charismatic Prime Minister from the Labor Party. Set in Britain some time in the future, "A Very British Coup" is a brilliantly conceived, directed and acted film which I first saw about 10 years ago on a New York PBC station, and now twice recently on a low definition quality tape I had made. The drama is fast-paced and almost operatic in its depiction of a statesman whose honesty and forthrightness threaten to overturn the entire monolith of the old-boy network so imbedded in the British political system. The predominantly privileged, aristocratic class of civil servants and their ally, a media giant attempt to undermine Harry's "open" administration by all the means available and these means are extensive. When their methods are only partially successful, because they underestimate Harry's indomitable consistency, his strength of character, they resort to more sinister solutions. Determined to remove all nuclear warheads and thus infuriating the U.S. Harry decides to have the dismantling of a nuclear warhead televised. For his adveraries, this is the final draw. They devise a plan that will devastate Harry's effectiveness and credibility with the millions of people who supported him. This drama moves at the breathtaking pace of a good, literate thriller. If you are looking for substance both in story and character, "A Very British Coup" is the film for you. Ray McAnally, aka Harry Perkins would never have been hired by Hollywood to play a hero. He's a chunky man with nondescript features. But from the very beginning of this story as you watch Harry lathering his face with an old fashioned brush and mug, which is his only legacy from his coal-mining father, you are struck by his energy and palpable humanity. As the story unfolds, it is his complex and unflappable personality that exudes sex appeal. Mozart's music, in particular the Mass in C Minor with its passion and exuberance works like a superb Greek chorus. Throughout the drama McAnally projects a robust, penetrating intelligence. Moreover, as he confronts the various machinations of his opponents, he demonstrates that to be an idealist one must also have knowledge.

There is much more that I could say about Harry Perkins. His is a complex character with heroic proportions. All the supporting actors are first rate, in particular Alan McNaughton who plays Perkins' principal antagonist. For me, "A Very British Coup" represents what is best about British Film and drama; namely, that capacity to transcend a particular place and time and personal bias, that skill at characterizing individuals and individual situations so as to make them universal and timeless. And in the case of "A Very British Coup" it will make you hungry where you are most satisfied.

British political thrillers are top-notch, and this one is no exception, even if it is a product of the eighties. The Cold War may have evolved into something else, but the problem of media frenzies, covert surveillance and behind the scenes manipulation of events by secret intelligence services continues. In this scenario, when a genuine left-wing Labour candidate becomes Prime Minister, certain Tories, to protect their long-standing aristocratic privilege, pull all sorts of shenanigans to dislodge him, even resorting to blackmail, extortion, and murder.

The designers of this series are to be complimented on the sets, which reproduced the interiors of Number 10 Downing Street in a convincing manner (from pictures I have seen). The elegant imagining of the staircase, the cabinet room, and the residence stand in marked contrast to those of "The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard," in which the interiors were so nondescript that I never believed for one minute that I was actually inside one of the most famous residences in London.

A drawback of this well-acted series [Among other actors, Clive Merrison is excellent as a slick BBC news presenter who excels in lobbing loaded questions at his guests.] is its rather faded look (although this probably can't be helped since the program was made for television in 1986). The series is also dated by the device that was likely included to give the story a hypothetical aspect: it refers to a king, which, since the Queen is still with us--and long may she reign!--and the Soviet Union has folded, detracts from the verisimilitude of the scenario. The most dated aspect of the film, however, is the use of what now seem like gothic computers with LED TV-like monitors that must hold about 55k of memory (Shades of my old Apple IIe!). One wonders whether the cell phones on "The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard" will seem like dinosaurs in twenty years!

To Acorn Media's credit, they have included a lengthy audio interview with the author as well as selected filmographies. As usual, there are no subtitles.

Each episode begins with disturbing images of burning debris falling into the Thames. The full significance of these does not impact the viewer until the end credits roll.

I ordered this 3 years ago, but it wasn't until today that I made time to sit down and watch it. I saw it originally when it aired in the US back in the late 80s, and only vaguely remembered that I thought it was very impressive, and that the end was, for some reason I couldn't remember, very disturbing.

Although there are many comments that "A Very British Coup" is excellent, but dated, I find that events of the past few years, and the corresponding drop in international opinion of the US and its policies makes it very relevant today. Yes, it's very much situated at the end of the Cold War, but little seems to have changed.

And, after having seen it again, now I know why I found the end so very disturbing. It's somewhat ambiguous (wonderfully so), and I almost overlooked it completely. Only once the credits started to roll did I comprehend what my eyes and ears had seen, and how the story truly ended. Thank goodness for "rewind"!!

This is an excellent British television play of political ruthlessness, with clever plotting and a terrific performance by Ray McAnally as a besieged socialist prime minister.

Harry Perkins, "from Sheffield, steel worker and third generation Socialist," is elected Prime Minister. He said what he'd do if he were elected and now he and his cabinet are going to it. He plans to have American bases moved out of Britain, destroy Britain's nuclear armory, phase out nuclear energy, break the power of the entrenched old boys, break up the newspaper monopolies and reinvest in British jobs. "I once tried middle of the road," Perkins says. "I was knocked down by traffic in both directions." He also plans to run an open government because that's what the people want. "I'm going to tell you the truth. The whole truth," Perkins says to the British people during a telecast. "He can't do that," one of the press lords says. "He's the prime minister."

As the hidden government, which includes senior civil servants, the aristocratic establishment, press lords and the CIA, realizes that Perkins really means what he says, they begin gathering forces to stop him, and nearly succeed. At the climax to the program, Perkins is caught in a set-up by the CIA, Sir Percy Browne (a senior British intelligence head played by Alan MacNaughtan in a performance as nuanced as McAnally's) and a press lord to make him appear corrupt and bought. The solution Sir Percy offers him is resignation on grounds of ill health, with a new prime minister who would be more amenable. That would be a coup, Perkins says. But a very British coup, Sir Percy points out, with no firing squads, no torture.

How Perkins handles this is clever and satisfying. It underlines what he said to a disloyal minister he forced out of office. "You always were a dirty fighter," the minister said bitterly. "Yes," Perkins replied, with a smile.

If you like political one-upmanship, a taut storyline and first-rate acting, you should enjoy this program very much. Ray McAnally is outstanding as the charismatic, devious and honorable Harry Perkins.

As another reviewer has stated this drama is a little dated but to me it is a fascinating look at the machinations of British government dressed up as a drama for public consumption.

I came upon this DVD by accident recently and recognised the original author as being the current Labour MP for the Sunderland South constituency in the North East of England, Chris Mullin. Although I have never met this man, by reputation he was once a man of the hard left championing unpopular causes such as the appeal of alleged IRA prisoners for a bombing on mainland Britain whom he believed were convicted wrongly. He was also a minister for a while in one of Blair's governments who returned to the backbenches to maintain his independent stance on a number of issues. A soft spoken man, he appears as a thoughtful mild mannered but hard hitting man when he asks questions at Prime Ministers Question Time.

And therein lies the rub. As a drama with the Alan Plater script this show has a number of faults, the repetitious use of the only talk show interviewer and the exact same backroom people producing the show each time, some of the characters being a little wooden but a journeyman production nevertheless.

As an insider's look at the British government machine this is a treasure trove indeed. Watched in conjunction with the MI-5 seasons (known as Spooks in Britain), a good picture from a couple of perspectives, of the governmental machine emerges.

The central character resembles uncannily, a former MP in a Coventry constituency, Dave Nellist, and the setting of a hard left Labour victory was considered a possiblity in the 1980's after the election of Margaret Thatcher. It seems too that if permission was not given to film in the rooms of Number 10 Downing Street, then the researchers were given very good acccess and reproduced the inside almost exactly as you see when the characters ascend the stairs where the black and white portraits of previous Prime Ministers hang. The incumbent's photograph is only hung up upon their leaving office.

Much of this mini-series is accurate and true to life, such as as the new Prime Minister's life being almost taken over by the very polite, civil servants, shown to have their own agenda's and not being the impartial technicians pace Keynes. I was very pleased to see scenes set at Chequers, the country retreat or somewhere very similar to it. The machinations of the government and the almost required plotiing and scheming takes place mostly outside of the Houses of Parliament which really does not enter the equation.

All in all this show reflects a more socialistic view of how government works in practice in Britain. There is a strong current of Anti-Americanism throughout which in my view is not shared by the majority of people in Britain but which accurately reflects the inherent hostility of socialists towards America.

While some parts are deliberately extreme there is a clear understanding of the degree of sophistication which is the hallmark of the operations of the British establishment. Clearly influenced by the reins of power the new hardline Prime Minister ends up in the ministerial car and ends up in the Cabinet Room alone much as Margaret Thatcher ended her days there.

This is the British equivalent of the West Wing packed into three hours. I was so impressed I bought a copy. It should be reuired viewing for students of British politics everywhere and from my point of view it just goes to show that Friedrich Hayek was right when he advised Anthony Fisher who formed the Institute of Economic Affairs, not to go into politics.

An excellent insider view.

I really enjoyed this movie. Yes, it is the story of a left-leaning politician. Yes some of the accents are a bit hard to understand (captions, please). But if you loved the House of Cards, with the incredible Ian Richardson, playing the role of a conservative right wing Prime Minister (after Margaret Thatcher no doubt), you will love a Very British Coup which speaks to the political turmoil doing the 1970's era Britan that was the impetus for the rise of Thathcherism. Social unrest, union strikes, global gamenship are all on display in this movie. The British do this type of drama so well. This is top form BBC drama...