The Deal (2003)

Directed by

Stephen Frears

Genre

drama film, biographical film, drama television series

Country

United Kingdom

Runtime

1h 16m

Rated

12

Rating

6.8 of 10 from 27 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

Two Labour politicians, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, navigate their rivalry and make a secret pact about who will become party leader. The story follows their relationship from first entering Parliament to the moment of the handshake deal.

intimatetensedconversationalbriskdetailedseriousrestrainedinsiderish

What happens

The Deal is a 2003 British television film directed by Stephen Frears from a script by Peter Morgan, based in part upon The Rivals by James Naughtie. The film depicts the Blair–Brown deal, a well-documented pact that Tony Blair and Gordon Brown made, whereby Brown would not stand in the 1994 Labour Party leadership election, so that Blair could have a clear run at becoming leader of the party and later Prime Minister instead. The film begins in 1983, as Blair and Brown were first elected to Parliament, and ends in 1994 at the Granita restaurant—the location of the supposed agreement—with a brief epilogue following the leadership contest. The film stars David Morrissey and Michael Sheen as Brown and Blair respectively. It was first proposed by Morgan in late 2002 and was taken on by Granada Television for ITV. After Frears agreed to direct, and the cast were signed on, ITV pulled out of it over fears that the political sensitivity could affect its corporate merger. Channel 4 picked up the production and filming was carried out for five weeks in May 2003. The film was broadcast on 28 September 2003, the weekend prior to the Labour Party's annual party conference. The film was critically acclaimed. Morrissey received considerable praise, winning a Royal Television Society award for playing Brown, and Frears was nominated for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Television Movie/Serial by the Directors Guild of Great Britain. The film also nominated for an International Emmy for Best TV Movie/Miniseries. Sheen later reprised his role as Blair twice, in The Queen (2006), which depicts the death of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997, and in The Special Relationship (2010), which chronicles the special relationship between Blair and U.S. President Bill Clinton. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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