Sunday 16 October 2011

The Comic Strip presents: The Hunt for Tony Blair: Crikey, what a caper!


Ah, old Tony Blair's back in the limelight, or maybe that should be searchlight, yet again. Only a couple of weeks ago Dispaches: the Wonderful World of Tony Blair investigated the vast pots of wealth he has amassed since leaving No. 10. Now the Comic Strip presents... take a slightly more light-hearted look at Blair's downfall in the style of a British film noir. There's loads of mist and trains and trilbies and smoking.

Stephen Mangan takes on the role of Blair and gee, he is just swell. He's got Blair's mannerisms but manages to make it a version of Tony Blair rather than a really bad impression. The story begins in a bizarre rendition of our world, somehow existing in the 1950s/60sish. Original Comic-Stripper (steady) Robbie Coltrane arrives at Downing Street to arrest the PM. It's nothing new really, 'Blair's a murderer', 'illegal war in Iraq', blah blah blah, but the way it's tackled is refreshing.

As Blair goes on the run from the rozzers, he reminisces on how it all went wrong and we meet a right gaggle of mentals along the way. As expected, the mentals are mostly played by some of our best British acting folk. Another original Comic-Stripper, Nigel Planer, captures Peter Mandleson's extraordinarily dull creepiness perfectly and I'm left with the distinct impression that this weird parallel universe is actually Mandleson's fantasy life where he gets to play a clever mastermind who outfoxes them all.

Also of note are Tony Curran who pops up as shouty ginge, Robin Cooke; Morgana Robinson (off of the Morgana Show) who plays sexy beatnik, Carol Caplin and Ford Kiernan who channels his Angry Man from Chewin' the Fat as the mentally unstable, Gordon Brown. The show-stopper though has to be Jennifer Saunders as Lady Thatch in the style of Gloria Swanson. Her run-down Sunset Boulevard style mansion provides a hiding place for Blair and a quick shag with the Iron lady herself. Saunders' Lady Thatch has an other-worldly kind of bonkers which works so well; eternally reclining as her butler, Tebbit, plays reel after reel of her glory days.

Also of note is the beautiful styling, the sumptuous lighting and the clever writing. It's great to see a new set of comedians and actors breathing new life into the old Comic Strip format. More mad-cap political satire is required so I really hope this wasn't just a one-off.

There have been so many articles, books and documentaries about Blair in the last few years with many differing viewpoints and versions of just what happened during his time as PM. The Hunt for Tony Blair ends when Blair, who is portrayed here as a self-serving, morally bankrupt cunt, ends up being shot in the arse. Make of that what you will.

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