Channel 4 gets political with Make Me Prime Minister (w/t)

17 May 2022

We all have opinions on what our politicians should be doing with their time in office but how many of us actually have the skills to run the country? What does it take to fight for what you believe in and convince others to back your ascent to power?

Channel 4 has commissioned a new competitive format, Make Me Prime Minister (w/t) from Twofour, AOP, and Motion Content Group. The six-part series will follow 12 ordinary yet opinionated Brits with views from across the political spectrum, in a contest to see what it really takes to operate in the cutthroat world of politics.

Make Me Prime Minister (w/t) will follow the ambitious candidates on the campaign trail. They will be put through their paces in a series of prime ministerial style tasks designed to test their leadership skills, resilience, and integrity. These weekly group challenges will be set and adjudicated by Alastair Campbell and Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, two political heavyweights who know exactly what it takes to succeed in office.

During the competition, candidates will face the pressures, challenges, and accountability of being in power. From handling diplomatic crises to avoiding domestic gaffes, every move will be scrutinised by Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, Alastair Campbell, and the watching media.  Can candidates avert triggering an international crisis by carefully negotiating with an enemy of the country? Will they be able to explain their new education policy to a group of 5-year-olds? How will they cope with being grilled by one of the country’s top journalists with only minutes to prepare?

In order to keep their campaign hopes alive and make it through the weekly vote, each candidate will need to persuade and convince former politicians, experienced journalists and most importantly the public, that they have the charisma, vision, and political acumen to lead. Across the series the candidates will be whittled down until just one secures victory to be crowned Channel 4’s Alternative Prime Minister.

Baroness Sayeeda Warsi said, “Serving as Chairman of the Conservative Party and a Cabinet minister in a coalition government, I was convinced values and ethics matter as much as political ideology. So Alastair Campbell and I are putting aside our political differences to focus on what it takes to lead. I hope we can inspire a new generation of passionate voters and politicians.”

Alastair Campbell said, “Done properly, being Prime Minister is about a tough a job as anyone can do. It is great that so many people think they can do it and I am looking forward to working with Sayeeda Warsi to guide and challenge them to see if they really have what it takes. Fair to say politics is in a bit of a mess right now and I hope not only that some genuine political talent emerges through the series but also that it might inspire the watching public to get more engaged in politics and get properly involved.”

Phil Harris, Head of Entertainment and Events at Channel 4 said, “We usually tackle politics through our studio-based satire. Now we are injecting some of that attitude to an innovative new competition series that has purpose, scale and humour. Make Me Prime Minister will give real people the chance to prove their leadership credentials. We’re excited to be jumping on the political bandwagon with Twofour, Motion Content Group and AOP.”

Dan Adamson, Managing Director, Twofour said, “We’re delighted to be partnering on this ambitious, audacious and mischievous series - everyone’s got a view on what they’d do if they were in charge…but our candidates are about to find out just how hard is it to run the country…” 

Matt Edmondson, Creative Director of AOP said, “I love it when a big bold idea we’ve dreamt up comes to life, and I’m thrilled Channel 4 have shared in our huge ambition for this show. I’m sure we’ve all imagined what it might be like to be in the Prime Minister’s shoes at Number 10, and I can’t wait to discover what big ideas for Britain our alternative PMs bring to the table.”

Martin Oxley, Head of Formats at Motion said, “Recent events have given us all an even greater view of the machinations of British politics. We are thrilled to be partnering with Channel 4, Twofour and AOP to see if the nation’s political wannabes have been paying attention to the all-important dos and don’ts of leading the country.”

Make Me Prime Minister (w/t) was commissioned by Phil Harris, Head of Entertainment and Events and Commissioning Editors for Entertainment, Cimran Shah and Genna Gibson.  The 6x60’ series is co-produced by Twofour and AOP, in co-production with Motion Content Group and comes from an idea devised by  Matt Edmondson and Rees Howell.

The Executive Producers are Louise Hutchinson, David Clews, and Chloe Court for Twofour with Martin Oxley for Motion and Matt Edmondson and Francis Ridley for AOP. The Production Executive is Francesca Kybert, the Series Producer is Charlie McLean and the Series Director is Josh Jacobs. Twofour is part of ITV Studios.

Make Me Prime Minister (w/t) is funded by Channel 4’s Contestable Pot, a ring-fenced fund for new innovative, channel-defining formats, financed by Motion Content Group.

ENDS

About AOP

AOP (Accidentally on Purpose) is the production company owned by Matt Edmondson and Francis Ridley for Money Group Entertainment.

As well as devising “Make Me Prime Minister”, its ITV2 series “Dress to Impress” which is co-produced with Lifted is currently in production on Season 3.

About Motion Content Group  

Motion Content Group funds, develops, produces and distributes both original and third-party premium content to create value and opportunities for its partners and advertisers.  Working with the world’s leading talent, producers and distributors Motion aims to support the editorial, creative and commercial requirements of over 200 networks and platforms.  Headquartered in London and Los Angeles, Motion currently operates in over 30 countries worldwide and has a broad range of award-winning programming distributed globally.  

Motion Content Group is part of GroupM, the world’s leading full-service media investment management operation, a WPP company.  

Follow Motion on Twitter: @motion_content, Instagram: @MotionContentGroup and LinkedIn.