About Political Fictions: political drama on screen and on the page
Join Cory Hazlehurst and Mark Pack as they digest some of the best - and some of the worst - depictions of politics in fiction: film, TV and even the occasional book. What political advice is smuggled into these stories and how do they impact on what people think about politicians today?
Top author and newsletter writer Sam Freedman joins us this week to talk about The Thick of It special episodes 'Rise of the Nutters' and 'Spinners and Losers'.
We talk about how prescient the episodes are about both the rise of Gordon Brown and the Conservative rebranding under David Cameron, top political advice about how you can ensure you get a good desk in an office, Cory gets massively distracted by the cricket, and we end by wondering whether the show has been misunderstood.
Sam's newsletter is Comment Is Freed, and you can listen to Mark's previous chats with Sam about his writing here and here.
If you are in the UK, you can watch these episodes on BBC iPlayer.
Next time, we're talking about The Manchurian Candidate.
Cory’s email newsletter is Paperback Rioter and Mark has a family of email newsletters.
Subscribe to our newsletter for some additional bonus content and to get alerted whenever a new episode comes out.
Our theme tune is “Monkeys Spinning Monkeys” by Kevin MacLeod/incompetech.com and licensed under the Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License.
8 Oct 2026
State of Play, Part 2 (#20)
Mark and Cory conclude their discussion of the classic TV series State of Play. Mark reports back on his correspondence with a cast member and also auditions for a role as a defence counsel, whilst they also talk about which elements of the plot remain realistic today and which are complete MacGuffins.
The Guardian article Cory refers to can be read here and the previous podcast episode, covering State of Play episode 1, is here.
Next time, Sam Freedman joins us to talk about The Thick Of It specials The Rise of the Nutters and Spinners and Losers, both of which you can watch on BBC iPlayer.
Cory’s email newsletter is Paperback Rioter and Mark has a family of email newsletters.
Subscribe to our newsletter for some additional bonus content and to get alerted whenever a new episode comes out.
Our theme tune is “Monkeys Spinning Monkeys” by Kevin MacLeod/incompetech.com and licensed under the Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License.
1 Oct 2026
State of Play, Part 1 (#19)
Mark and Cory begin their two-part series on the classic TV series State of Play by discussing episode one. It begins with Mark recoiling in horror at the low score Cory intends to give it, almost causing an irreparable rift in Political Fictions Towers. Thankfully, they manage to repair the relationship by talking about what the show tells us about politics in the early 2000s, praise the excellent cast (especially those who are able to stand awkwardly in the background very effectively) and undertake some seriously impressive letterbox-based investigative work.
You can view more about State of Play, including details of where it's currently streaming, here. Next week, we'll be returning to talk about the rest of the series.
Cory’s email newsletter is Paperback Rioter and Mark has a family of email newsletters.
Subscribe to our newsletter for some additional bonus content and to get alerted whenever a new episode comes out.
Our theme tune is “Monkeys Spinning Monkeys” by Kevin MacLeod/incompetech.com and licensed under the Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License.
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