An introduction to Ballot Monkeys

20 April 2015

 

The writer-directors Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin have the Prime Minster to thank for their brilliant new Channel 4 comedy series, Ballot Monkeys. Guy, who with Andy has created such memorable comedies as Drop the Dead Donkey and Outnumbered, says that, “Up until now it has been impossible to plan for an election sitcom because we never knew when it would be. But then David Cameron kindly introduced the idea of a fixed-term Parliament, so now for the first time it’s possible. The Prime Minister has presented us with this great opportunity.” For which we should all be very grateful.

Ballot Monkeys will enable us all to be passengers on the general election battle buses of the Conservatives, Labour, Lib Dems and UKIP. En route, we will be able to observe the antics of the confederacy of dunces who people so much of contemporary politics.  

The show boasts not only top-notch writer-directors, but also first-rate actors. The stellar cast playing the party apparatchiks jockeying for position on the battle buses is led by Ben Miller (Death in Paradise), Hugh Dennis (Outnumbered), Sarah Hadland (Miranda), Kathleen Rose Perkins (Episodes), Hattie Morahan (Arthur and George), Andy Nyman (Ghost Stories), Esther Smith (Uncle) and Rhashan Stone (The Smoke).

What also makes Ballot Monkeys such an enticing prospect is its topicality. To guarantee that all its jokes are absolutely up-to-the-minute, as much as a third of each episode will be filmed on the day of transmission.

The creators are confident their set-up will help them garner more than enough material to fill the five episodes. Andy says that, “We’ve worked on enough election shows before to know that you have to be balanced in your coverage. We couldn’t feature just one bus, so we became intrigued by the idea of shooting simultaneously on four different buses. That’s also a great way of generating material to go out that night.”    

Comedy will stem, too, from the fact that the characters are the put-upon foot soldiers rather than the grandiose generals of the campaign. Our characters have to run around organising everything. They’re like middle management. We’re not portraying the top spin doctors. We’re depicting the people who have to carry out this nonsense, not the people who come up with it in the first place.”

Many of the jokes will revolve around the panic that inevitably grips politicos in the run-up to an election. Andy reflects that, “This is going to be the first very fast, social-media election. The atmosphere’s going to be really febrile.

“The big fear for all parties is that out of the blue some obscure figure will say something stupid, the Twitter-sphere will instantly decide it’s laughable and suddenly it will become the dominant news story of the day. You can see why all the parties are very frightened of the speed with which these stories take off. That’s why they are desperately trying to stay on message.”

Guy adds, “That sense of chaos is very comic and very good for us. But you do wonder how good it is for democracy or for politicians’ mental states. Just a few years ago, politicians could have a string of mistresses and say terrible things about people in private and no one would ever know. But there’s no private any more. What is alarming is that politicians have to make decisions so quickly. You have to get the rebuttal out within five minutes. But that’s great fodder for comedy.”       

Another area the writers will be zooming on in is the plethora of foreign consultants in this election. Guy says that, “There is a mystique about people who have worked on campaigns abroad and a sense of ‘They’ve got one, so we want one, too’. Everyone seems to have worked on Obama’s campaign.”

“Guy and I worked on that,” Andy jokes, quick as a flash. “He never used one of our gags. Not one.”  

Finally, are the pair at all nervous about the idea of producing a show on such a tight deadline? Not in the slightest. Andy laughs that, “The nice thing about the ludicrously fast turnaround is that we won’t have time for any nerves!”