Absolute Power (radio and TV series)

Radio version

Mark Tavener created and wrote Absolute Power, which serves as a follow-up to the earlier series In the Red, In the Balance, In the Chair, and In the End, co-written with Peter Baynham. In those earlier programs, the characters Prentiss and McCabe, again portrayed by Stephen Fry and John Bird, hold high-ranking positions at the BBC until they are dismissed. The novel In the Red concludes with a scene where the newly appointed BBC director general fires them. The premise is that, after this firing, they establish the public relations firm Prentiss McCabe, which becomes the focus of Absolute Power. The show differs so markedly in tone and style from the In the... series that it stands as an entirely separate work. Dawn Ellis produced the program, as she did with much of Tavener’s output.

Charles Prentiss is an amoral figure driven solely by money and influence, depicted as the firm’s intellectual engine. His partner, Alan McCabe, is a skilled speechwriter but lacks Prentiss’s drive and sharp instincts. McCabe dreams of retiring to a life of drinking claret, and he navigates his days with cynicism, lethargy, and boredom. Though he considers himself a first-class mind and occasionally generates strong concepts, these ideas typically become Prentiss’s by the time they reach the client, and McCabe rarely musters more than weak protests. He is also more inclined than Prentiss to hesitate over a plan for ethical reasons. Stephen Fry described Charles Prentiss as a brutal, shameless man with no morals, whose only aim is to win, adding that there is a certain pleasure in watching such a natural-born killer operate, knowing he will always prevail.

TV programme

The television adaptation of "Absolute Power" was created by writers Guy Andrews, Mark Lawson, and Andrew Rattenbury, carrying the tagline "spin is dead, long live PR." Unlike many sitcoms that move from radio to TV, not a single television episode was adapted from a radio script. The TV version differs significantly from its radio predecessor. The firm Prentiss McCabe is portrayed as a far more influential and respected agency, while Martin McCabe is depicted as considerably more savvy. The clandestine meetings with government officials that featured in the radio show are replaced by informal chats over coffee with newspaper editors and private secretaries.

Where the radio series had just one trainee, the television show introduces several young professionals. The most prominent are Jamie Front (James Lance) and Alison Jackman (Zoe Telford). Jamie is a naturally gifted liar and schemer, whereas Alison is highly intelligent but overly honest and takes things literally. Charles Prentiss once remarked that while most of the young staff at Prentiss McCabe do not know their arse from their elbow, Alison would at least join the Royal Arse Society and borrow a book on elbows from the library. Other employees include Cat Durnford (Sally Bretton), a young party enthusiast, and Nick Mayer (Nick Burns), Charles’s personal assistant.

The agency’s focus shifts from political maneuvering to celebrity management, a rarity in the radio version. In the radio show, handling a Big Brother contestant is treated as an unusual event, but it is routine for the TV series. Conversely, in the TV episode "The House of Lords," Charles is taken aback when a government spin doctor contacts him. A wide array of guest stars and cameo appearances feature in the television series, including Fern Britton, Tim Brooke-Taylor, Angus Deayton, Gareth David-Lloyd, Huw Edwards, Sharon Horgan, Gareth Hunt, Mark Lawson, Dermot Murnaghan, Geoffrey Palmer, Anneka Rice, Chipo Chung, Phillip Schofield, John Sessions, Ray Stubbs, Anthea Turner, Kirsty Wark, and Matthew Wright.

Due to the terrorist attacks in London on 7 and 21 July 2005, the originally scheduled first episode of the second series—involving a member of the bin Laden family attempting to purchase British Airways—was pulled and replaced with a later episode. The bin Laden-themed episode was eventually broadcast several weeks afterward.