I tried out The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard on a whim, based on Jane Horrocks starring in it. I quickly recognized much of the cast and knew I would be on interesting ground, based on the Kudos production logo. It is that: interesting. I expected something a bit more comedic, with Horrocks, but there is little "pure" comedy here. The idea of an ordinary citizen propelled to Parliament, based on a populist campaign, is not a new idea, nor is the female focus. The family angle made it a bit more unique. It's a satire, with a rather simplistic view of the mechanisms of government, though we get snippets of scenes that reinforce that creating change isn't that easy. However, we never really get a sense of the forces that would be arrayed to oppose the kinds of changes that Ros Pritchard talks about. The Tory opposition is made out to be completely impotent, which even the Blair years would suggest was far from the truth, let alone more recent elections. We also never get a sense of business interests that might oppose many of the reforms that Pritchard wants to implement, though things are kept very much centered around general community topics and with a rather centrist view, especially compared to previous political satire/drama, like House of Cards (the original) or A Very British Coup. Those two played more with hard politics, with very definite points of view in each of their main characters. It also doesn't get into opposition from the rather conservative civil service, as in the brilliant Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister comedy series. On the end, I think it is this rather tame political stance that holds the series back and part of why it didn't generate a second series. I wondered a bit as to where on the political spectrum I might cast Ros Pritchard and pretty much concluded that dead center was about as close as I could come to an answer, even moreso than Jim Hacker ever was.
The cast is all first rate and the writing is generally good, with interesting characters, though Ros Pritchard seems a little too perfect. She carries the moral high ground until forced to compromise in the last episode. This is the closest she comes to being tainted by the power she wields, another aspect I felt was less than realistic. On the other hand, her husband seems so weak that you wonder how their marriage has lasted this long. Daughter Emily seems to go from relatively level-headed to impetuous rather quickly. Also, the new MP character seems to be introduced, then ignored until a scandal is needed to set back Ros' government. This character was begging for more development than she was given.
You get the feeling that many of the weaknesses of the series were elements that might have been addressed in a second series, which gives the whole thing an incomplete vibe, despite the epilogue card that inserted after a second series was nixed. Still, there are plenty of interesting ideas and characters to keep you interested for the 6 episodes, though it will probably never be rated a classic.
The cast is all first rate and the writing is generally good, with interesting characters, though Ros Pritchard seems a little too perfect. She carries the moral high ground until forced to compromise in the last episode. This is the closest she comes to being tainted by the power she wields, another aspect I felt was less than realistic. On the other hand, her husband seems so weak that you wonder how their marriage has lasted this long. Daughter Emily seems to go from relatively level-headed to impetuous rather quickly. Also, the new MP character seems to be introduced, then ignored until a scandal is needed to set back Ros' government. This character was begging for more development than she was given.
You get the feeling that many of the weaknesses of the series were elements that might have been addressed in a second series, which gives the whole thing an incomplete vibe, despite the epilogue card that inserted after a second series was nixed. Still, there are plenty of interesting ideas and characters to keep you interested for the 6 episodes, though it will probably never be rated a classic.