A Very British Coup

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A Very British Coup is a 1982 novel by Chris Mullin, and a 1988 British television adaptation of the novel, adapted by Alan Plater and starring Ray McAnally. The television series, first screened on Channel 4, won Bafta and Emmy awards, and was syndicated to more than 30 countries.

1 Plot
2 Analysis
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Plot

Harry Perkins, an unassuming, blue collar, very left-wing Labour politician is elected Prime Minister. The priorities of the Perkins Government include the dissolving all newspaper monopolies, removing all American military bases on U.K. soil, unilateral nuclear disarmament, and true open government. Immediately, the right wing and allies scheme to depose him, with the U.S. the key, but covert, conspirator.

[edit] Analysis

The book was written around 1982-83, at a time when the Labour Party was in deep trouble and there was much debate about the direction in which it should go. It also has strong echoes of the persistent rumours that have circulated over the years about attempts by the British and American security services, and other wings of the British Establishment, to undermine and depose Harold Wilson's Labour government of the mid-1970s. This first became widespread public knowledge around 1986 with the controversy around Spycatcher, after the publication of the novel but before the broadcast of the TV version.

The endings of the novel and the television version are significantly different.