Partygate: it was the scandal that just kept on going. First, it was revealed that a number of ‘gatherings’ had been held at Number 10 throughout lockdown. Then, the truly shocking finer details – which included a garden party, birthday cake, a suitcase full of booze, karaoke, a DJ, cheese and wine – started to emerge.
In total, there were as many as 12 ‘gatherings’ at the government’s headquarters between May 2020 and April 2021, and 126 penalty notices were issued by the police once investigations started to take place.
The revelation that the government had been having a ball in the midst of the pandemic, while the public missed out on births, birthdays and funerals, and forfeited seeing their ageing family members, infuriated people around the country who felt humiliated and tricked by their own government.
Now, the major scandal – which is seen as being integral to the downfall of Boris Johnson – is set to become a TV drama film. Here are all the details we know so far.
What is Partygate going to be about?
The film is going to detail the many parties that went on in Number 10, cutting together real-life news clips and documentary interviews with dramatised reimaginings, to paint a picture of what really went down behind the scenes at the government’s headquarters during that fateful, less than brilliant year.
The drama will focus on two special advisors Grace Greenwood and Annabel D’acre, who, although fictional, are an amalgamation of numerous accounts and people: Channel 4 has said that the upcoming film has been made using “meticulous research of real events”.
The drama will also show the contrast between the alcohol-fuelled parties and the terrifying reality of the pandemic for the public.
Who will star in the upcoming drama?
Georgie Henley, who is best known for playing Lucy in The Chronicles of Narnia (2005-2010), will play Grace, while Ophelia Lovibond, who played Carrie Johnson in Sky Atlantic’s This England, will play Annabel.
Partygate will also star Phil Daniels (Quadrophenia), Hugh Skinner (The Windsors), Rebecca Humphries (Ten Percent), Charlotte Richie (Ghosts, You) and Craig Parkinson (Line of Duty).
They will be joined on screen by Tom Durant-Pritchard (The Windsors), Alice Lowe (Black Mirror: Bandersnatch), Anthony Calf (New Tricks), Kimberly Nixon (Fresh Meat), Naomi Battrick (Jamestown), Alice Orr-Ewing (This Is Going to Hurt) and Edwin Flay (Grace of Monaco).
Impressionist Jon Culshaw will play the voice of Johnson.
Who has made the new drama?
Partgate has been made by the same team that made the BAFTA-winning BBC Three drama film Killed by my Debt (2018), which was based on the true story of a 20-year-old man who died by suicide after interest on two £65 parking ticket fines turned into £1000 debt.
The team also made The Left Behind (2019), a haunting BBC drama about a young working-class man from Wales who is drawn into far-fight factions, and the BBC film Murdered by my Father (2016), which dramatised the circumstances that led to an honour killing of a British Muslim teenage girl.
Is there a release date?
Yes – the drama’s release date is just around the corner: it will premiere on October 3 at 9:30pm.
Is there a trailer?
Yes. We’ve popped it at the top of the page. It really sets the scene: the minute-long teaser opens with a clip of the real Boris Johnson speaking directly to the screen. “You must stay at home,” he says.
Then the trailer cuts to a dramatisation of two government staffers buying prosecco at a supermarket. It cuts back to Johnson saying more sombre words, and then back to the dramatisation, with the girls bringing the booze back to 10 Downing Street, laughing their heads off.
The party is about to begin. The beat drops, someone talks about getting a karaoke machine, there’s dancing, wine is spilled. “What happens at Number 10, stays at Number 10,” says another staffer. Here we go.
