| Stonehouse | |
|---|---|
| Screenplay by | John Preston |
| Directed by | Jon S. Baird |
| Starring |
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| Theme music composer | Rolfe Kent |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of series | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 3 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
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| Producers |
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| Cinematography | Mark Wolf |
| Editor | Steven Worsley |
| Running time | 55 minutes |
| Production companies |
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| Original release | |
| Network | ITV |
| Release | 2 January – 4 January 2023 |
Stonehouse is a British comedy-drama [1] television series dramatising the life and times of disgraced British government minister John Stonehouse, first broadcast from 2 to 4 January 2023. The series starred Matthew Macfadyen and Keeley Hawes and was directed by Jon S. Baird from a script by John Preston.
The series is a part fictional/fact [2] based account of how in November 1974 a prominent Labour British politician, John Stonehouse, the former Postmaster General within the Harold Wilson government and MP for Walsall North, disappeared from the beach of a luxury hotel in Miami, Florida. Stonehouse left only a neatly folded pile of clothes behind, after he swam into the sea to fake his own death.
Stonehouse faked his own death in a vain attempt to avoid disgracing his reputation. After engaging in espionage, forgery, theft and fraudulent activities, he was extradited to the UK from Australia. [3]
Filming took place around Birmingham, Stratford-upon-Avon and Leamington Spa. [4] The series marked the first time real life husband and wife Macfadyen and Hawes have worked together since the BBC series Ashes to Ashes . Kevin McNally has previously appeared as Harold Wilson in the Kray twins 2015 bio-pic Legend , starring Tom Hardy. [5]
Stonehouse's daughter Julia protested against her father's alleged spycraft for the East Bloc, both in this production and in the Channel 4 documentary The Spy Who Died Twice also about John Stonehouse. [6]
Stonehouse was broadcast in the UK on ITV and ITVX in three one-hour episodes on 2, 3 and 4 January 2023 from 9pm. [7]
Rebecca Nicholson of The Guardian awarded the drama four stars out of five, and called it "enormously entertaining". [1] Carol Midgley of The Times described it as "a joy, chiefly thanks to Macfadyen’s witty, light-on-its-feet performance," [8] whilst Hugo Rifkind, writing for the same newspaper, declared it "very funny" but was disappointed in the lack of nuance in its depiction of the title character. [8]
The series was nominated for Best Single Drama or Mini-Series 1-3 EPS at the 2024 Broadcasting Press Guild Awards. [9]