…but only fictionally, of course. Channel 4’s upmarket digital channel will air a drama, shot in the style of a retrospective documentary, about the consequences of the Commander-in-Chief being killed in office.
Of course, as any fule kno, the real consequence is that the whole thing would be solved within twenty-four hours by a rogue counter-terrorist agent who everybody thought was dead, and who looks remarkably like the head vampire in The Lost Boys.
Reuters’ coverage gives a little more background as to the dramatic content of the piece:
In the film, Bush is killed by a sniper, and the investigation quickly focuses on a Syrian-born man…
“It’s a pointed political examination of what the war on terror is doing to the American body politic,” said More4 boss Peter Dale at a press conference on Thursday.
while Liz points out in her news story that:
while a number of different agencies are under suspicion for the murder, the programme ends with a twist.
Which can only mean one thing. Yes, Guardian TV pundit and presenter of BBC4’s sublime Screenwipe, Charlie Brooker, will finally get his man. Back in October 2004, he ended a column on then forthcoming US Presidential Election with the words
John Wilkes Booth, Lee Harvey Oswald, John Hinckley, Jr. — where are you now that we need you?
…objections to which sentiment caused The Guardian to take the highly rare step of removing the whole column from the paper’s website.
Elsewhere in the More4 lineup, Robert Lindsay continues his ongoing battle with Michael Sheen to become “person most likely to play Tony Blair”, reprising the role in The Trial of Tony Blair, written (as was his previous protrayal in A Very Social Secretary) by Alistair Beaton. Of course Sheen, currently on stage playing David Frost in Frost/Nixon, played Blair in The Deal and again in the BBC’s forthcoming The Queen, leaving them both at two apiece.
More4’s other big politically-related show for the autumn is a spin on a Channel 4 staple — the list show. The 30 Greatest Political Comedies sounds like a great excuse for trotting out the old clips of Yes, Minister and The New Statesman again. Thankfully, it won’t be presented by clip show veteran Jimmy Carr, although that may have been preferable (and I can’t believe I just typed those last words) to the presenters they have got in his place: Michael Howard and Charles Kennedy. One to record on Sky+ and then fast-forward through the pain-inducing links, then…
Christ almighty! How predictable is this! This is not so much a low blow but instead a cheap shot. A very simple and easy cheap shot. I am surprised that no one in our subsidised regional repertory land has come up with this infantile concept.
Never the less I am sure that secular loving citizens of both this country and the United States will be able to take it.
Its just aswell that its not a drama about the assasination of the President of Iran, now that would offend the sensibilities of everyone.