(L-R): Keely Hawes, Matthew Macfadyen and Emer Heatley star in Stonehouse. Photo courtesy/copyright of ITV/BritBox.
Premiering January 23rd on BritBox, Stonehouse is a three-part drama, based on the extraordinary rise and fall of MP John Stonehouse (Emmy winner Matthew Macfadyen). As a high-flying member of Harold Wilson’s Labour government and a seemingly devoted family man, Stonehouse’s perfect life spirals out of control in the early 1970s amid rumors of fraud and espionage. It turns out that while Stonehouse has been climbing the political ladder, he’s also been forging secret relationships - with his secretary Sheila Buckley (Emer Heatley) and shadowy figures in Prague - that will threaten him personally and professionally.
As the drama unfolds, suspicion from his wife Barbara Stonehouse (BAFTA nominee Keeley Hawes) and the media grows. Stonehouse embarks on an outlandish escape plan that will lead him to Miami, Melbourne and eventually - hand-in-hand with Sheila - the dock of London’s highest criminal court. All this, while Prime Minister Harold Wilson’s (Kevin R. McNally) slender lead hangs in the balance.
It’s a story, inspired by sensational true events, that explores the price of ambition, the pressures of politics and how attitudes towards mental health have changed in the last 50 years.
Directed by Jon S. Baird, written by John Preston, with music by Rolfe Kent, Stonehouse executive producers are Jon S. Baird, Neil Blair, Ruth Kenley-Letts, Matthew Macfadyen, John Preston and Ellie Wood, Polly Hill for ITV and Diederick Santer for BritBox International.
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