Episode One - Identity Crisis
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The Government want to push through their legislation on ID cards - but
how do you persuade the nation that losing your privacy and paying an
extra £100 for a card is worthwhile?
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The negative line - that the only people who object to compulsory cards
are terrorists, illegal immigrants and paedophiles - is seen by the Government
as a little too Michael Howard.
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Prentiss McCabe have to convince the public that it's fun to have a name
and a number - "We need something which is essentially fluffy".
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So Charles (Stephen Fry) and the team come up with a campaign that appeals
to people's greed, rather than playing on their fear. Will the Government
buy the idea of an Identity Card lottery?
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Meanwhile in the offices of Prentiss McCabe, Jamie (James Lance); Cat
(Sally Bretton); Nick (Nicholas Burns)
and especially Alison (Zoe Telford) are starting to get paranoid about
their own secrets being discovered - and it turns out that the Nixon-style
phone tapping antics aren't the work of their biggest rival PR company.
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It reveals a little more than the team would like and Charles, despite
the recent freedom of information legislation, decides he'll be holding
this new-found information on a need to know basis, which gives the office
some food for thought!
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Episode Two – The Trial
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Charles (Stephen Fry) becomes the subject of spin when
an ex-client blows the whistle on his past misdemeanours.
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Charles has persuaded bankrupt MP Anthony Dawson to be complicit in a
fabricated story in which he confesses to having had sex with an underage
girl – thus enabling him to write a bestselling account of how he went
to prison and then found God.
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But Dawson spills the beans and Charles finds himself being the accused
in a trial that becomes a cause celebre.
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Meanwhile Martin (John Bird) and the rest of the team have to find ways
of repackaging Charles so that he appears a man of the people during his
trial.
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They are also fending off job applications from opportunistic undesirables
such as Andrew Neil, Alastair Campbell and even Jeffrey Archer, who are
all keen to offer their PR skills to fill the gap left by Charles – should
he go down of course.
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Finally Alison (Zoe Telford) finds herself under pressure
when she is given Hugh Grant, one of Charles' most valuable clients, to
look after.
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Guests: Haydn Gwynne as Helena Greaves; Richard
and Judy; and Kirsty Wark.
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With Charles out of the way "in chokey," Martin and the team are beginning
to enjoy their new-found freedom.
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"It's so nice to be able to float an original idea without that sarcastic
bastard slashing it to bloody ribbons," (Jamie).
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However, their latest mission looks tricky.
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Artist Dean Wheelwright (Richard Katz) looks on paper
like he could win the Turner Prize. His exhibition involving pints of
his own blood, The Last Best Thing I ever Did, appears to be the perfect
fodder to impress the judges.
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The snag is that he doesn't want to accept his invitation to be on the
shortlist.
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Martin (John Bird) can't bear artists, ever since Francis Bacon squeezed
his dong in the Colony Room, and doesn't understand the art world – "Writers,
royalty and thesps – yes. Politicians I grin and bear it. But artists!"
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However Charles (Stephen Fry) is released unexpectedly early from doing
time, and sees the perfect opportunity to blow the art world apart from
the inside at the same time as making their artist Dean the most lucrative
hoaxer of all time.
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Episode Four - The Nation's Favourite
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Foreign billionaires buying quintessentially British institutions have
featured prominently in recent times, what with Roman Abramovic buying
Chelsea Football Club and Mohammed Al-Fayed shopping for Harrods.
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So when a suave, very rich Saudi approaches the Prentiss McCabe team
to help him buy British Airways, it looks as if Prentiss McCabe will become
very rich too.
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But there's a catch. "What's his name?" asks Martin McCabe (John
Bird). "His name you'll find difficult to pronounce," replies
his increasingly unsettled protégé Jamie Front (James Lance).
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"WHAT'S HIS NAME?"; "Bin Laden! – but we can finesse that."
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So that's the challenge in this opening episode for the team of master
communicators: to sell the idea that the cousin of the most execrated
man on the planet is a suitable owner of the world's favourite airline.
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Any attempts to get him to change his name fall on deaf ears, as they
discover it's as much a story about Reza Bin Laden rehabilitating the
family name as it is fulfilling a childhood dream of being rich enough
to buy a great British company.
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Can Prentiss McCabe pull off the biggest corporate PR stunt in their
history? Not if the Government have their way.
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Guest appearances include Silas Carson as Reza Bin Laden
and James Fox as Gerald Thurnham.
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Episode Five - The House of Lords
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"Bugger the House of Lords"; "Yes, that's exactly the PM's thinking."
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The pace of reform in The House of Lords has slowed down, it's still
full of the over-privileged, and they keep sending back Government proposals
for legislation.
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So when Charles' arch-rival and Downing Street press secretary Colin
Priestley (Angus Deayton) asks Charles to come up with
an idea which will undermine the power of The House, an opportunity presents
itself to place Prentiss McCabe in pole position for future lucrative
Government commissions - and, equally importantly, to put one over on
Colin Priestley.
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There's only one snag.
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Martin, who has aspirations of being ennobled himself, has simultaneously
accepted a commission from the Lords to counter the Government initiative… "Conflict
of interest? How yesterday."
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Charles believes Prentiss McCabe can spin both campaigns – discrediting
Priestley and making a load of money into the bargain.
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A satirical look at how Government wants to appear democratic while pushing
through draconian changes - "We want you to come up with something that
appears democratic which is in fact utterly meaningless".
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Guest stars: Chris Langham as Peter Walsh; Nick
Le Prevost as Lord Henry Cox-Wycliffe; Kirsty Wark
and Huw Edwards.
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American fast food sales are down and images of Ronald McDonald are being
burned in the streets - could this be linked to Prentiss McCabe's healthy
eating campaign?
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Or is this a backlash of anti-American feeling post-Iraq?
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Whatever the cause, the Prentiss McCabe team are drafted in to make America
loved again. They've never had to spin a whole country before and the
only popular American exports they can think of are sitcoms.
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Until, that is, they take the line of a negative campaign - imagine what
life would be like if Switzerland were a Superpower.
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Meanwhile Jamie (James Lance) and Alison (Zoe Telford) are asked to have
lunch with a well-known TV broadcaster. The audiences for his 91Èȱ¬ travel
documentaries are dwindling because he believes he comes across as too
nice in an age when audiences like to be shocked. What he needs is not
a makeover but a hateover.
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Guest stars: John Sessions is John Kennedy;
Tim Brooke-Taylor is Peter Harrow and Bill Hootkins
is J.Thompson Lucas IV, US Ambassador.
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