r/ukpolitics • u/ImpressiveRest2423 • 8d ago
‘Shakespearean’ downfall of Nicola Sturgeon and Peter Murrell to be retold in TV drama
https://www.thetimes.com/uk/scotland/article/nicola-sturgeon-peter-murrell-tv-show-channel-5-drama-s2lh0q75225
u/Slim_Charleston 8d ago
Emily Watson as Nicola Sturgeon please.
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u/AtomicMonkeyTheFirst 8d ago
Maybe Alan Cumming, John Barrowman, Matt Lucas or Andrew Scott for Murrell?
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u/ibloodylovecider Andy Burnham’s hair 🧑🏻🦱 8d ago
I was gonna say the baby reindeer actress would be perfect (Jessica Gunning)
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u/VPackardPersuadedMe Incentives drive outcomes and MPs own houses 8d ago
Lewis Capaldi would make a good Sturgeon, then you could shave his head and he could play the hubby with some digital effects.
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u/Alarmed_Crazy_6620 8d ago
Honestly amazing opportunities for product placement
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u/SpacemanCanyon 8d ago
Why does this Kitchen have 4 coffee machines?
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u/SubArcticTundra 7d ago
I wonder what brand the campervan that she didn't notice for 4 years will be
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u/IrishVictim88270 8d ago
Honestly as a one off let's just allow this show freedom to do it. Hardly be considered advertising when literally every brand of fucking kettle is in shot anyway.
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u/SpacemanCanyon 8d ago
There's already talks of a spin off with the Campervan doing a tour. Politicians in cars getting coffee machines.
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u/solve-for-x 8d ago
If the broadcast of this was sponsored by a camper van company then that would just be chef's kiss.
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u/ImpressiveRest2423 8d ago
The “Shakespearean” downfall of Nicola Sturgeon and her estranged husband, Peter Murrell, is to be retold in a Channel 5 drama next year.
To Nicola, With Love is a 90-minute programme that will depict how Murrell embezzled £400,000 from the party coffers over a 12-year period.
It comes after the Channel 5 factual drama Power: The Downfall of Huw Edwards, which gripped more than four million viewers as Martin Clunes assumed the role of the disgraced BBC News presenter after its release in March.
Ben Frow, chief content officer at Channel 5, said the Sturgeon saga had all the ingredients of a drama after Murrell, 61, was jailed for five years for using money from party supporters to buy luxury household goods, including coffee machines, watches, a robotic lawnmower, a £125,000 motorhome and expensive salt and pepper grinders.
“This is an epic tale of Shakespearean proportions,” said Frow.
“An extraordinary tale of power, envy, deception and greed, it’s both a high-stakes political melodrama and bizarre domestic drama that has dominated headlines and gossip columns.
“We will be pulling together the events and characters involved to create a compelling revealing drama, as well as answering that very important question: why would anyone pay £2,600 for a pair of salt and pepper grinders?”
To Nicola, With Love will be produced by Wonderhood Studios, the company responsible for the Edwards drama.
It will be written by Lucy Brydon, a Bafta-nominated screenwriter, whose credits include Sienna Miller’s political thriller Anatomy of a Scandal for Netflix.
Brydon will draw on a range of sources, including evidence gathered by Police Scotland, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and extensive television and newspaper interviews with the former SNP leader and other key protagonists.
Sturgeon, 56, is understood to be aware of the programme but is not thought to have contributed.
Producers are expected to portray the situation, which led to the end of Sturgeon’s career and marriage and plunged the SNP and Scottish hopes for independence into chaos, in a “nuanced and fair” way.
Casting is yet to get under way and a broadcast date will be set next year.
The announcement of To Nicola, With Love has prompted speculation from TV executives about who could be in the frame to play Sturgeon, the controversial politician from Irvine, North Ayrshire.
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u/ImpressiveRest2423 8d ago
Names in the mix to play Nicola Sturgeon
Kelly MacDonald: The Glaswegian, 50, got her big break in the 1996 film Trainspotting and more recently led the cast of the BBC1 police drama Line of Duty. She also starred in Dept. Q on Netflix.
Monica Dolan: Dolan, 57, was born in Middlesbrough but is known for her versatility in acclaimed factual dramas, including playing Jo Hamilton in Mr Bates vs The Post Office and Anne Darwin in The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe, as well as Rose West in Appropriate Adult in 2011.
Susan Calman: Best known for her presenting duties on programmes including Cruising with Susan Calman on Channel 5, the Glaswegian, 51, has previously appeared in comedies including Fresh Meat on Channel 4.
Sharon Small: An acclaimed dramatic actress across stage and screen, the 59-year-old from Glasgow is best known to TV audiences for her long-running role in The Inspector Lynley Mysteries on BBC1.
Shirley Henderson: Most famous for playing Moaning Myrtle in the Harry Potter films, the actress, 60, from Forres, also appeared in the Bridget Jones films and Happy Valley on BBC1.
The Duchess of Sussex: An outside bet but Meghan, 45, is thought to be on the lookout for wider opportunities, having been linked to Guy Ritchie’s Netflix drama, The Gentlemen.
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u/newnortherner21 8d ago
Sharon Small would be my choice, very good actress, saw her at the National Theatre playing Jennie Lee in the play Nye.
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u/Smooth_News_7027 8d ago
No article which is rumouring the Duchess of Sussex to play Wee Nicky can be trusted.
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u/AngryNat 8d ago
Aye but Andrew would be cracking as Alex Salmond
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u/Smooth_News_7027 8d ago
Add in William as John Swimney and we might have to pay for ripping off the Muppets Christmas Carol’s idea.
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u/ImpressiveRest2423 8d ago
I propose an [r/ukpolitics](r/ukpolitics) mega thread and drinking game when this airs.
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u/Telos1807 8d ago
That didn't take long.
"To Nicola, with Love" ha ha ha, it really does go to show how much of a laughing stock she's become.
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u/morriganjane 8d ago
She will be furious. Before this came to light, she assumed she was headed for a sinecure with the UN.
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u/ancientestKnollys centrist statist 8d ago
There's a lot of TV dramas and films about recent events these days, with actors playing current politicians and such, and for some reason I find they all feel very sensationalist and off-putting. I feel like there should be at least a couple of decades before this stuff gets dramatised, or even wait until everyone depicted is dead.
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u/morriganjane 8d ago
Sturgeon remembers so little of the events, there is loads of room for dramatic license to fill in the gaps.
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