Hat Trick Productions turned the news cycle into a sprint-comedy relay: six episodes written, shot and broadcast while Britain voted and Trump flew. Jack Dee plays Oliver, a sozzled Remainer Tory whose people skills match South Yorkshire Police, while Kevin McNally's millionaire Spencer nicks road signs to spite Brussels and Archie Panjabi's Preeya pivots from Leave battle-bus cheerleader to post-referendum “unity” babysitter.
Each 25-minute slice hopscotches between four sealed hothouses: a purple Vote Leave bus, a Downing Street reconciliation unit, Trump’s airborne circus and a Kremlin ante-room where Ben Willbond’s veteran Oleg schools Alec Utgoff’s rookie Alexi in sycophancy and dog-walking. Returning Ballot Monkeys characters Gerry and Ruby reprise their cluelessness, now joined by Ayda Field’s evangelical Trump deputy and Amelia Bullmore’s pollster charged with making the candidate palatable to women.
Scripts were locked at dawn, jokes inserted by lunchtime, transmission by 10 p.m.; the result feels like Twitter printed on nitrous oxide and fed directly into the nation’s veins. Channel 4 burned through the entire run between 8 June and 6 July 2016, after which the monkeys scattered and the circus moved on.
Production Details
Channel 4 / 1 Season / 6 Episodes / 2016
Created by: Guy Jenkin, Andy Hamilton
Showrunner(s): Jimmy Mulville
Writer(s): Andy HamiltonGuy Jenkin
Music: Philip Pope
Main Cast
Gwyneth Keyworth as Jackie
Kevin McNally as Spencer
Andy Nyman as Gerry
Archie Panjabi as Preeya
Alec Utgoff as Alexi
Ben Willbond as Oleg
Amelia Bullmore as Lauren
Ayda Field as Bea
Robert Wilfort as Brett
Anthony Calf as Tony
Jack Dee as Oliver
Liz Kingsman as Ruby
