Stonehouse
Screenplay byJohn Preston
Directed byJon S. Baird
Starring
Theme music composerRolfe Kent
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series1
No. of episodes3
Production
Executive producers
Producers
  • Ruth Kenley-Letts
  • Ellie Wood
CinematographyMark Wolf
EditorSteven Worsley
Running time55 minutes
Production companies
  • Snowed-In Productions
  • Clearwood Films
Original release
NetworkITV
Release2 January (2023-01-02) –
4 January 2023 (2023-01-04)

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.

Synopsis

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]

Cast

Production

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]

Broadcast

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]

Reception

Rebecca Nicholson of The Guardian awarded the drama four stars out of five, and called it "enormously entertaining".[8] Carol Midgley of The Times described it as "a joy, chiefly thanks to Macfadyen’s witty, light-on-its-feet performance,"[9] 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.[9]

References

  1. ↑ Nicholson, Rebecca (2 January 2023). "Stonehouse review – Matthew Macfadyen is a brilliantly bad baddie in this fun, death-faking romp". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 29 May 2023.
  2. ↑ "Stonehouse story 'far more fascinating' than TV drama suggests, relative says". The Guardian. 3 January 2023. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  3. ↑ "Stonehouse: The true story that inspired the ITV drama starring Matthew MacFayden". The Independent.
  4. ↑ "The Boar". theboar.org. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  5. ↑ "Matthew Macfadyen in first trailer for Stonehouse, inspired by true story". Radio Times.
  6. ↑ "Family of fraud scandal MP John Stonehouse in plea over new TV drama". The Observer. 24 July 2022. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved 5 June 2023.
  7. ↑ "ITV dramatises life of John Stonehouse MP who faked his death in 1974". The Guardian.
  8. ↑ "Stonehouse review – Matthew Macfadyen is a brilliantly bad baddie in this fun, death-faking romp". The Guardian. 2 January 2023. Retrieved 14 February 2023.
  9. 1 2 "Stonehouse review: a fun drama about the MP who faked his own death". The Week. 12 January 2023. Retrieved 14 February 2023.
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