Channel 4 is promising its upcoming Partygate dramatisation – yes, another Downing Street Covid drama – will be a “meticulously researched docudrama” which “takes viewers inside No 10”, as if there isn’t already a six-part series on Sky Atlantic which basically did the same thing. Almost the same thing…
While This England caked Kenneth Branagh with makeup that looked like he was having an allergic reaction to a bee sting, Channel 4‘s Partygate the True Story won’t feature Boris Johnson’s face at all. The show creators claim they took the “creative decision” to only show the back of his head whenever he appears on-screen. His voice will be provided by an impressionist. Groundbreaking television – this is the sort of thing that supposed to compete with the streaming giants…
The star witness for a discredited Channel 4 hit-piece on Arron Banks has since been charged with fraud. It’s yet another cause for skepticism of the 2019 reports, which rested heavily on Kimber’s claims that Banks travelled to Russia to secure mining investments, which he then used to bankroll the Brexit campaign. Kimber will appear in court today. Arron Banks told Guido he was “highly delighted” to see Channel 4’s allegations “go down in flames”. He added it:
“vindicates what I’ve always said Channel 4 has been doing and that’s making stuff up. They should’ve checked their sources”.
All that glitters is not gold…
A Pippa Crerar and Luke Harding special appears on the front page of The Guardian this morning: “Queen was asked to block Evgeny Lebedev’s peerage”. The top sleuths write: “Government officials asked whether the late Queen would block Evgeny Lebedev’s peerage because of concerns that he could be a national security risk due to his father’s links to the Putin regime, a documentary has claimed.” Which sounds very dramatic – until you read on to the third paragraph: “The Palace is understood to have refused [to block it]”. Doh!
This lame hand out appears to be the most that can be dredged out of a new Channel 4 documentary on Evgeny Lebedev which is slated for broadcast tomorrow. It is not as if the controversy was unreported at the time. The Guardian is the only paper giving Channel 4’s film any press. Guido hears there is nothing more in the film than has already been endlessly recycled. Apparently, the investigation is amusingly forced to conclude that there is no suggestion of anything untoward on the part of Lebedev himself…
So, what could account for The Guardian’s appetite for targeting him? Evgeny is a British citizen and regime critic who has a Russian name – but his country of birth shouldn’t bother the progressives at The Guardian. And surely a liberal newspaper would celebrate his vital investment in underwriting (expensive) British journalism – especially that of left-leaning outlets like The Independent. Which, by coincidence, is the Guardian’s fiercest competitor…
Reclaim Party leader Laurence Fox and tractor-porn fan former MP Neil Parish have signed up to a new reality TV series which will see them experiencing life as a prisoner. Channel 4 will send a cast of male celebrities to a former prison to give them a taste of what it’s like to be banged up. Guido suspects that seeing the GB News host behind bars will pull in a lot of viewers.
It is an interesting decision from Neil Parish, who described his House of Commons pornography incident as “immoral” but not illegal. Hasn’t he seen how Matt Hancock’s desperate attempts to rehabilitate his image flopped on ITV’s I’m A Celebrity?
HMP: Celebs Behind Bars is expected to air later this year.
Tory MP Scott Benton made the Commons a bit rowdier this afternoon after launching a passionate tirade against Channel 4, in light of the government’s u-turn on selling it off. Rising to his feet the 2019 intake MP told Culture Secretary Michelle Donelan:
“Channel 4 has an unmistakeable liberal, left, metropolitan bias in its programming, and particularly in its news output. So much so it almost makes the BBC look impartial by comparison! How exactly is a few pages in its annual report going to change this engrained bias?”
His gag about the BBC got a hearty laugh from the Tory benches – and even a chuckle from the Secretary of State…
LBC‘s Lewis Goodall has got his hands on a letter from DCMS secretary Michelle Donelan to the PM confirming that her recommendation is against privatising Channel 4 – directly contravening the plan of Nadine Dorries and the previous government. The letter states that after reviewing the business case:
“I have concluded that pursuing a sale at this point is not the right decision and there are better ways to secure C4C’s sustainability and that of the UK independent production sector.”
Responding to the leaked letter, a DCMS spokesperson tells Guido “We do not comment on speculation. The DCMS Secretary of State has been clear that we are looking again at the business case for the sale of Channel Four. We will announce more on our plans in due course.” All eyes on Nadine’s Twitter account…
Read the leaked letter from Goodall in full here.
UPDATE: As expected, Nadine Dorries’ response pulls no punches:
A policy at some time in the future to teach maths for longer with teachers we don’t yet even have to do so.
— Nadine Dorries (@NadineDorries) January 4, 2023
Where is the mandate- who voted for this?
Will now be almost impossible to face the electorate at a GE and expect voters to believe or trust our manifesto commitments.
