First Among Equals

By Cyril Pearl -- Video Business, 8/4/2008

ACORN
Street: Sept. 16
Prebook: now
> Twenty-year-old British political miniseries starring a fine Tom Wilkinson still packs a punch.

An adaptation of British politician-turned-novelist Jeffrey Archer’s 1984 bestseller, First Among Equals debuted on British TV in 1986 as a 10-part miniseries. More than two decades later, Archer’s tale about the lives and careers of four British politicians (Tom Wilkinson, James Faulkner, Jeremy Child, David Robb) who, over the course of 20 years, each jockey to become Prime Minister, remains as potent and timely as ever. First Among Equal’s epic story concerns the dealings and power-plays of Parliament, but it also offers subplots involving terrorism, extortion, embezzlement and prostitution, making its broad scope more intimate at just the right times. Also starring such British TV stalwarts as Joanna David (The Forsyte Saga), Diana Hardcastle (If Only), Anita Carey (Doctors) and Jane Booker (North & South) as the women in the politicos’ lives, this is one miniseries whose appeal hasn’t waned.

Shelf Talk: Quite popular when it was originally broadcast overseas and in the U.S. (on public television), First Among Equals has a core following that also is dedicated to the work of Archer, whose latest novel, A Prisoner of Birth, was published last spring. In terms of onscreen talent, two-time Oscar nominee Wilkinson (Michael Clayton, In the Bedroom) is the name to promote to stateside audiences that are undoubtedly familiar with his more recent work but may be unfamiliar with this miniseries, which finds him considerably younger but no less fierce as a performer.

Political thriller, color, NR (mature themes), 494 min., DVD $49.99
Extras: none
Director: John Gorrie, Sarah Harding, Brian Mills
First Run: British TV, 1986