Channel 4 to Make Farage Prime Minister in Mockumentary, but Don't Bet on It Being Balanced

This morning The Guardian published a story on a mockumentary that Channel 4 are making. What of course The Guardian fails to explore is the “line” that the drama will follow. Breitbart has inside information on this.

A producer company for Channel 4, Raw TV, is currently casting for a Drama to portray the first 100 days of a future UKIP government. Here’s the casting call we have obtained:

“100 Days of UKIP” is a 1 hour film for Channel 4, produced by Raw TV.

It will be presented as a fictional documentary set in an imagined future where UKIP have won the general election with a slim parliamentary majority. The film follows the story of Deepa Singh, UKIP’s youngest female ethnic minority MP, as she navigates sometimes conflicting pressures from her divided Constituency and parliamentary party.  We see over the course of her first 100 days in the job how she tries to be the face of UKIP’s populist but sometimes controversial policies.  The film will attempt to fairly speculate how Britain could react to a UKIP government.

Casting will take place for the following speaking parts:

Deepa’s Dad: Sikh, 60s, successful businessman, proud of his daughter

Deepa’s Mum: Sikh, 60s, kind, homely

Couple: 60s, Male and Female. White Middle class. Christian, homophobic, but adores their grandchildren

Dinesh:  Indian Restaurant Owner, 50s, Tough businessman

Lobby Journalist: Journalist who questions UKIP strategy leader, 25-40, either male or female

Hack#1 & #2: 25-40, either male or female

Ralph: White working class, 50s factory worker

Van Driver: White van driver, 40s/50s

TV News Reporter, Female: Attractive 20s, Polly Boiko type

TV News Reporter, Male: 30s, challenges Deepa over UKIPs illegal immigrant crackdown

UKBA Officer: Young ex-soldier, has done 3 tours of Afghanistan, now works for UKBA

Vloggers: Angry bloggers, any age, white

The racial element can be seen from the supporting castings: homophobic white elderly couple, white factory worker, white factory worker, white van driver, angry white Vlogger (which brings Pat Condell and Paul Weston to mind). This must be a dominant theme of the mockumentary.

You can just imagine the scenes they have in mind. Grim faced white policemen herding pitiful, frightened illegal immigrants into cages in the back of a police van. Possibly our young MP’s father will be found to have employed illegal immigrants – loyal workers pitifully dragged from the embrace of a kind employer – being sent back to an uncertain fate in the lands from whence they came rather than being able to build a new and better life in Britain.

They possibly have in mind for their lead character Sanya-Jeet Thandi, who was an avid UKIP supporter, who argued on Channel 4 against a man called Awate who hates UKIP and who also seems to hate anything British too. Then, within a week, she stomped off in a huff, claiming UKIP was racist.

How they plan to work in the TV News Reporter will be interesting. Polly Boiko is a Russia Today broadcaster, and they are generally pretty anti-UK-establishment and pro-UKIP, so whether they portray her broadcasting for that channel (which could be used as part of a negative message against UKIP) or a UK-establishment channel (a more balanced view) could change the whole tenor of it.

This is drama and it will seek to be powerful and unsettling. It will probably try to paint a rather dystopian view of the UK under UKIP with the lead character becoming deeply disillusioned.

I have emailed the Head of Drama of Channel 4, Piers Wenger, and the producer at Raw TV, Diane Shorthouse, asking if the programme is going to be balanced and the intended timing of it. After 36 hours, I have had this response from a Channel 4 spokesperson:

“This Channel 4 programme is in early production. Using as its basis UKIP’s policies and statements made by the party and its members, the programme will project into a fictional future where UKIP are in Government. The programme will be fully compliant with the Ofcom Broadcasting Code.”

Nothing in this statement fills me with any confidence of a “balanced view” and they avoid the question of timing.

We all saw the Panorama programme on Nigel Farage, mostly picking on statements made by ex-members, and with Channel 4’s track record in the political arena, I have little confidence that the writers and directors will offer calm and cool impartiality, but instead attempt to paint a picture of a racist party based on similar statements. Guardian leaning luvvies do not like UKIP and it is almost certain to show.

It looks very much like it will be a one hour long Party Political Broadcast by the anti-UKIP party, especially if they have the temerity to broadcast it in the last month before the election.