The Politician's Wife (1995– )

A woman's life is turned upside down when it is revealed that her husband, a member of the British Parliament, has been having an affair with a former prostitute.

Stars:

Juliet Stevenson, Trevor Eve, Ian Bannen

5 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Juliet Stevenson	...	Flora Matlock (3 episodes, 1995)
Trevor Eve	...	Duncan Matlock (3 episodes, 1995)
Ian Bannen	...	Sir Donald Frazier (3 episodes, 1995)
Anton Lesser	...	Mark Hollister (3 episodes, 1995)
Katie Donnison	...	Joanna Matlock (3 episodes, 1995)
Minnie Driver	...	Jennifer Caird (3 episodes, 1995)
Diana Fairfax	...	Rosalind Clegg (3 episodes, 1995)
Stuart Piper	...	Paul Matlock (3 episodes, 1995)
Veronica Clifford	...	Veronica Weston (2 episodes, 1995)
Sally Knyvette	...	Peggy Price (2 episodes, 1995)
Jacqueline Tong	...	Suzie (2 episodes, 1995)

Storyline

A woman's life is turned upside down when it is revealed that her husband, a member of the British Parliament, has been having an affair with a former prostitute.

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Plot Keywords:

confrontation | extramarital affair | british flag | blacklist | father son relationship | 

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Taglines:

He's had a mistress. She's had enough

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 January 1996 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Mulher do Político

Filming Locations:

Athenaeum Club, Pall Mall, St. James's, London, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Channel 4 Television Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

185 min 185 min (3 parts)

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

The three parts had the titles "Stand By Him", "Echo Chamber" and "Body Politic".

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Connections

Featured in Zomergasten: Episode #18.4 (2005)

User Reviews

Prime-time Soap

It's hard to know who is more manipulated in "The Politicans Wife," the audience or the actors. These episodes seem to offer no more than an apathetic mess on an issue that cries out for clarity and commitment. Banalities replace ideas; paparazzi camera-work (why not put the camera inside Julia Stevenson's skin?) that makes the actual paparazzi in the film seem benign replace sensitive vision; moral confusion replaces ethics (nothing new here so perhaps it's too much to ask for); and an up-to-date spectator sex replaces an adult look at sexuality.

The movie, in short, offers little to the viewer in the way of enlightenment, challenge, or change. And equally little to the actors who are victims of unconvincing, stereotypical roles that often border on the grotesque. Which is too bad, because as we can sometimes glimpse, they deserve far more.

And somehow these episodes are enclosed in such a way as to make very public lives seem uncomfortably private--to the viewer and the viewed. The lighting and composition gets switched from too harsh and naked to flattering in the bat of an eye. But it's the starkness that makes this an endurance test for the viewer. One can be saved just so many times by Juliet Stevenson's brightly expressive eyes only to have to be jerked back to their sulfurous fierce intensity. Or by the the heavy-handed symbolism which manipulate them, and to which all the other characters are subject. (the father hospitalized in episode 3 was the last gasp for me--and the end of the torture)

In sum, "The Politician's Wife" is one big exercise in obscurity: a contorted plot,twisted relationships, stunting manipulations, half baked cynicism with a dollop of social concern, and opportunistic sexuality conspire to this end. Pass it up--it's current grade is truly mistaken.