The Daily Mirror plays a starring role in the new TV series featuring the Dominic Cummings scandal.
Sky Atlantic’s This England, a drama based on the pandemic, depicts the fall of Boris Johnson.
The final episode focuses on the turmoil caused by our front page revelations about the then Prime Minister’s special adviser Cummings and his lockdown trip to Barnard Castle in County Durham.
Jasmine Hyde portrays our then political editor Pippa Crerar as a two-month probe into the 260-mile trip from London to Durham is shown.
The Mirror’s North east reporter Jeremy Armstrong plays himself in a cameo role, seen making a call to local police.
That phone exchange confirmed the visit by Cummings to his father’s home on the outskirts of Durham in April 2020 shortly after the first lockdown.
Johnson, played by Kenneth Branagh in a fat suit with a blond wig, is seen saying: ‘You f***** up, Dom’.
Carrie Johnson, portrayed by Ophelia Lovibond, warns her husband: “He is going to bring you down. Sack him.”
The inside of Downing Street is shown as the PM’s former aide, played by Simon Paisley Day, gives his infamous Rose Garden speech at No 10.
Lee Cain, the PM’s head of communications, watches in disbelief as Cummings makes his comments about “testing his eyesight” on the trip to Barnard Castle.
In the background is a front page featuring the Mirror chicken. Cain was sent to confront the Tories dressed in the outfit when he worked for this newspaper in 2010.
He was later appointed as Johnson’s chief spin doctor after serving as his press aide in the Foreign Office and during his successful Conservative Party leadership campaign.
This England director and co-writer Michael Winterbottom uses clips of genuine speeches in the drama.
The final episode of the six-part series, which began on Wednesday, includes footage of Cummings talking to a Commons select committee.
Producer Josh Hyams said: “Michael does not patronise his audience and he does not pull any punches.”
- This England is available now on Sky Atlantic and streaming service NOW .
