Party Games

Party Games was a politically-themed Georgeland comedy television series, centred around the life and career of an upwardly-mobile, but very corrupt and thorougly unlikable, politician. The series starred Ron Ellis as greasy, manipulative, unpleasant and narcissistic MP Simon Wolfe. Wolfe's political affiliation was deliberately left unspecified. The series was created by Ben Hope and Tony Prentice, who had previously written another, similar series, The Statesman, where the MP's politics were more explicit. Party Games ran for 5 series of 13 episodes each, from September 1994 until October 1999. The show was highly acclaimed and never missed by a number of high-profile politicians, including Noel Quarton, Campbell Rhodes and Michael Fisch.

Characters

 * Simon Wolfe (Ron Ellis) was a 35-year-old backbencher, elected to his seat after (falsely) implicating his predecessor in a child sex scandal. He was a shameless womaniser (though most women found him repulsive) and took bribes without a second thought. Throughout the series it was implied, though never explicitly stated, that Wolfe had a number of 'kinky' habits, and possibly that he was latently homosexual. Wolfe believed in nothing, and sought political power for his own interests alone. His party affiliation was never stated, though it was clear from dialogue his party was in government, which would make him either Labour or United Islands Liberal Party, unless the series was not set in the present day. He was terrified, however, of the wrath of the Chief Whip (see below), and devised a number of elaborate schemes to avoid the Whip catching on to his activities.
 * Howard Welsh (Roger Cobb), the Chief Whip, was mean-spirited and vindictive, and despised Wolfe with a firey passion. Many of the episodes focused around their mutual loathing, and Welsh's attempts to 'catch' Wolfe in the act, which he never achieved. In the last episode of series 3, Welsh was implicated in a corruption scandal and forced to resign (though it was Wolfe who was the real culprit). At the end of series 4, Welsh returned and tried to kill Wolfe by blowing up his car. In series 5, Welsh is in prison, but manages to orchestrate Wolfe's final downfall.
 * Rebecca Stevenson (Linda Muir): A House of Commons secretary, Rebecca was the object of Wolfe's (hopeless) lust in series 1.
 * Mandy Kennedy (Yvonne Grau): In series 2-4, Mandy was Wolfe's assistant, and was just as manipulative and ambitious as he, though she was much better at it. In Series 5, Kennedy had managed to swindle her way into the Senate, and by the end of the series was a junior Minister, outranking Wolfe. She slept with Wolfe in the Series 3 episode Nothing Personal; a decision she regretted so much she started to plot Wolfe's eventual downfall, which she achieved at the end of the series with the aid of the former Chief Whip.