A six-part adaptation of the infamous political diaries of the Conservative minister and celebrated raconteur.
This serial chronicles the political career and private reflections of Alan Clark (John Hurt), a junior minister in Margaret Thatcher’s government. The narrative follows Clark from his appointment to the Department of Employment, through stints at Trade and Defence, charting his unfulfilled ambition for high office and his eventual retirement from the House of Commons in 1992. Clark’s observations on his colleagues, including Margaret Thatcher (Louise Gold), Tristan Garel-Jones (Hugh Fraser), and Jonathan Aitken (Jeremy Clyde), are recorded with cutting wit. At his Saltwood Castle home, his long-suffering wife Jane (Jenny Agutter) provides a constant, stabilising presence against the backdrop of his turbulent career and casual infidelities.
The success of this adaptation rests almost entirely on the central performance of John Hurt. He inhabits the role of Alan Clark completely, capturing the man’s warring qualities: the intellectual arrogance, raffish charm, casual cruelty, and flashes of genuine vulnerability. Adapted and directed by Jon Jones, the production skillfully condenses a decade of voluminous, self-serving diary entries into a coherent dramatic arc. Instead of merely presenting a string of anecdotes, the serial constructs a compelling character study of a man whose biting social commentary could never quite mask his own professional frustrations. The result is a sharp, funny, and often melancholic portrait of political life as seen from the perspective of one of its most articulate and unapologetic insiders.
Broadcast: BBC Four, 6 Episodes, 15 January – 19 February 2004
Adapted by: Jon Jones
Director: Jon Jones
Producers: Kate Lewis, Phillippa Giles, Richard Fell, Laura Mackie
Executive Producers: Phillippa Giles, Richard Fell, Laura Mackie
Main Cast: John Hurt (Alan Clark), Jenny Agutter (Jane Clark), Julia Davis (Jenny Easterbrook), Hugh Fraser (Tristan Garel-Jones), Nicholas Jones (Peter Morrison), Peter Blythe (Tom King), Louise Gold (Margaret Thatcher), Jeremy Clyde (Jonathan Aitken), Paul Brooke (Ian Gow), Mel Martin (Valerie Harkness)
