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List Price: $29.99Amazon.com's Price: $26.99 You Save: $3.00 (10%)Prices subject to change.
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Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 9781569386170
Format: Color, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC
ISBN: 156938617X
Label: Acorn Media
Manufacturer: Acorn Media
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Acorn Media
Region Code: 1
Release Date: August 12, 2003
Running Time: 153 minutes
Sales Rank: 55385
Studio: Acorn Media
Theatrical Release Date: 1989
Editorial Review:
Description:
A VERY BRITISH COUP
The taut, powerful, all-too-plausible story about a democracy attacked from within When plain-spoken, charismatic former steelworker Harry Perkins becomes prime minister in a landslide Labour Party victory, his socialist agenda horrifies the entrenched ruling class and the right-wing media. As Perkins presses ahead with plans to close down U.S. military bases, break up newspaper monopolies and dismantle British nuclear weapons, the establishment and its American allies conspire in a brutal back-room struggle to regain control. Starring Ray McAnally (A Perfect Spy, My Left Foot), this PBS Masterpiece Theatre miniseries won an International Emmy Award, three top British television awards and the Banff Television Festival grand prize.
DVD SPECIAL FEATURES INCLUDE
• interview with author Chris Mullin
• full-color insert with character glossary
• cast and crew filmographies
Amazon.com:
Yet another astonishing example of the daring and intelligence of British television, A Very British Coup imagines what might have happened if, during the latter days of the cold war, a left-wing prime minister had launched reforms that seriously threatened the interests of the establishment--including the United States. While the initial barrage of political details may confuse American viewers, the complexity soon clears and this miniseries becomes a gripping, dazzling feast of government machinations, media deviousness, and internal power struggles--leading up to murder, blackmail, and extortion. A Very British Coup cunningly displays the tooth and claw of real politics, how personality and policy meld into action and subterfuge. Ray McAnally is fascinating as Prime Minister Harry Perkins, leading a fantastically skilled cast. This superb thriller is based on the book of the same name by Chris Mullin, a former reporter who became himself a member of British Parliament. --Bret Fetzer
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - A First Rate Political Thriller
A left wing candidate is elected after a hard fought campaign by his right wing rivals. No I am not talking about the 2008 U.S. Presidential election. That is the in fact the beginning of A Very British Coup, an excellent and all too plausible miniseries about a left wing British Prime Minister who radical policies lead to members of the right wing establishment trying to bring him down. In fact it for interesting viewing especially in today's world.
Any good production needs a good ... Read More
Rating:  - A Very British Bore
"A Very British Coup," a political thriller, was a 1988 Granada production for The United Kingdom's BBC4 Television channel, home of the experimental, the left-wing, and the sexually daring. It's a political drama, concerning itself with the skulduggery surrounding the tenure of Harry Perkins (Ray McAnally) at the vaunted residence of the British Prime Minister, 10 Downing Street. It was based on the novel of the same name by Chris Mullin, a reporter who was eventually elected a Member of Parliament ... Read More
Rating: - Another Day at MI5
British political thrillers are top-notch, and this one is no exception, even if it is a product of the eighties. The Cold War may have evolved into something else, but the problem of media frenzies, covert surveillance and behind the scenes manipulation of events by secret intelligence services continues. In this scenario, when a genuine left-wing Labour candidate becomes Prime Minister, certain Tories, to protect their long-standing aristocratic privilege, pull all sorts of shenanigans to dislodge him, ... Read More
Rating: - Perhaps not so dated after all?
I ordered this 3 years ago, but it wasn't until today that I made time to sit down and watch it. I saw it originally when it aired in the US back in the late 80s, and only vaguely remembered that I thought it was very impressive, and that the end was, for some reason I couldn't remember, very disturbing.
Although there are many comments that "A Very British Coup" is excellent, but dated, I find that events of the past few years, and the corresponding drop in international opinion of the US and ... Read More
Rating: - Taut thriller
This is a great political thriller with an emphasis on "political" - an alternative history of the UK suggesting what might have happened had a Tony Benn like figure (except more proletarian) led the Labour Party to victory in the 1980s.
Ray McAnally is brilliant in the role of Harry Perkins and you'll root for him regardless of your personal politics. A bit strange at first seeing the pre-Blackadder Tim McInerry (Lord Percy Percy) as a villain but he is deliciously evil in the role.
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