Executive Power

Executive Power is a Georgeland television program, which made its premiere on 5 August 2018. The show’s creators and executive producers are Joe Starnes, Julian Barnstable and Vijay Kanya . It stars Vijay Kanya, Amy Rowe, Josephine Kennedy, Elizabeth Wilson , Danny Cable, David Boozman and Rae Green. From the third series, Wilson and Cable did not appear, and new stars, Richard Dexter, Toby Bryant and Eliza Bennett joined the cast. 

Kanya, Rowe and Kennedy reprise their roles from Starnes & Barnstable’s previous TV series, Martin Hall , of which the show is a sequel and continuation. Set six years after the end of Martin Hall, Executive Power focuses on former political operative Robbie Dahl (Kanya) returning to politics to aid the new Prime Minister of Georgeland as a major national, and international, crisis develops. Kanya was approached about a Martin Hall sequel starring his character in mid-2014, but decided to pursue other projects. In mid-2017, Channel 12 announced the character of Robbie Dahl would return in an original series in 2018, with some of the Martin Hall cast members to return. Of the original series cast, Kanya, Rowe and Kennedy are the only regulars to appear in Executive Power, although Colin Beech made a guest appearance in Season 1, and Rebecca Jordan-Wiley, the star of the original show, made a cameo at the very end of the Season 1 finale. In season 2 Kevin Bosley made a cameo appearance as his character Alan Wheatley (in flashback), and Jordan-Wiley made guest appearances in two more episodes.

The series' first season ran for 13 episodes, and ended with a finale on 28 October. On 19 September, Channel 12 announced the show had been renewed for a second season to begin airing in April 2019. The second season ran for another 13 episodes. At the end of the second season, Barnstable left the series, as did Wilson and Cable. For Series 3, which began airing in March 2020, Starnes was the sole showrunner. Vijay Kanya will be the series co-executive producer with Starnes for Series 4, which begin airing in 2021. A fifth and final series aired in 2022,

Synopsis

Series 1 (2018)

Beginning six years after the dramatic events of the Martin Hall season finale, Robbie Dahl has left politics to join the corporate sector, where he works as an advertising and marketing executive. His wife Ingrid is his closest confident, working as an environmental activist while the two raise their daughter Max, aged eight at the series’ beginning. After a cyberattack cripples the national power grid, and the command-and-control mechanisms for US nuclear launch sites, the world is plunged into crisis. The Prime Minister of Georgeland , Gabby Sinclair, begs Robbie to assist her in managing the crisis. To Robbie’s shock, Sinclair’s other adviser is Irene Wheatley, who has been secretly released from a mental institution (having murdered her husband and several others) and is acting as Sinclair’s shadowy, morally-ambiguous coach. As the series progresses, Robbie navigates the increasingly secretive and deadly world of international espionage, tries to figure out why Sinclair is using Irene’s advice, and deal with both personal and political crises.

Series 2 (2019)

More details are revealed about the shadowy rogue spy agency that is evidently controlling the federal government, and the (unnamed) foreign spy ring operating at the highest level. Irene becomes increasingly untrustworthy as her role in the organisation is revealed. As a major international crisis looms, Robbie forms an unholy alliance to save the government from itself and track down the ringleaders of the conspiracy before it's too late. Along the way, Robbie's former life crosses with his current one, and Irene's backstory is made clearer, with indications her late husband, the former Prime Minister, had a hand in events prior to the series' beginning. At the end of the series, Robbie (along with Ingrid) resigns from government service along with Sinclair, as a new government is formed determined to wipe out the conspiracy. 

Series 3 (2020)

Robbie and Ingrid have gone into business as a Topstad power couple, running their own political crisis consultation firm. Still hurting over the deaths of Tanner and Danny, Robbie accepts an offer to work for the opposition, led by the charismatic Tony Yates, but is hamstrung by the Official Secrets Act in telling Yates what he knows about the conspiracy. Meanwhile, the new administration struggles to weed out the rogue intelligence agency, and Irene has gone into hiding. When Irene dramatically, and publicly, re-emerges, the conspiracy becomes exposed and dominates the election campaign. With Robbie still unwilling to speak out, he is finally convinced to do so on TV, but his revelations are cut short by a terrorist attack which kills many members of the government and throws the country into chaos. 

Series 4 (2021)

The terrorist attack having killed about eighty percent of the government and parliament six months ago, a paraplegic Scott Dell now leads a unity government but Fife retains the real power as head of security and counterintelligence and the country has effectively become a police state, with Fife's powers including unlimited detention without warrant of any citizen. Robbie and Ingrid work communications for Dell but are frustrated with Fife's powers and when Dell attempts to remove her and end the emergency, he is assassinated by Irene during a live address; Irene then declares the country under the rule of the Central Authority. As martial law is imposed, even Fife is removed, the constitution is suspended, and the Central Authority reveals its true leader in the form of a former politician and intelligence official, John Sykes, who becomes its dictator. Robbie and Ingrid, along with Richardson and Alice, escape to Australia where they set up a government-in-exile. With Irene the intelligence and propaganda chief of the new government, the population start to accept the new regime, which begins sending dissidents to concentration camps. Bryant attempts to convince the Australian and American governments to intervene, unsuccessfully, but the United Nations imposes sanctions on Georgeland which has become an international pariah. Robbie returns to Topstad where he is arrested by Irene who tells him the Authority's overall plan is to end democracy in the west, with plans afoot in Australia, the US and Britain to overthrow their governments under the guise of security, and become the leaders of a pan-global axis. Irene's plans are broadcast using a secret bug given to him by Fife, and a popular uprising begins. As the series concludes, the Authority are on the cusp of losing power, and Robbie, much to his chagrin, is hailed as a national revolutionary figure.

Series 5 (2022)

A year after the Authority's downfall and the Golden Revolution, a unity government is in place with new elections planned. Robbie is the interim Prime Minister and not planning on contesting the elections, but he changes his mind when Sinclair, now the acting President, and Fife, his chief of staff, convince him that he's the unifying figure the country needs. The government led by Robbie and Colin begins to fall apart as both men claim the right to be in charge and try to assert themselves. The new elections return a hung parliament with Robbie and Colin now negotiating with a series of fringe independents and parties to cobble a coalition together. Colin eventually succeeds because Robbie is less willing to make compromises, leaving Robbie as Leader of the Opposition. As it looks as if democratic government and prosperity is restored, Colin and Robbie are forced to work together again as Irene emerges in Hungary; there is no extradition treaty and the two men agree she needs to be brought home anyway. Fife organises a covert mission to capture her but Irene evades the FISIA agents sent to get her and alerts the Hungarian government, prompting a diplomatic incident as she is now a Hungarian citizen. With no other options and the public baying for Irene's arrest and punishment of the Authority, Robbie strikes a secret deal through Fife - Ingrid can go free if she reveals everything about the Authority, its goals, and its backers, and will be given a new identity. Ingrid agrees and reveals the Authority's plan was a world government and that Georgeland was just the first step - she then shows evidence of Authority plans afoot in Britain, the United States, Europe and Australia. Threatening that the Authority is just too big to stop, Ingrid declares neither Colin or Robbie will live long in power, but before she can carry out any threats, Fife kills her and herself. At the funeral, Colin publicly resigns as Prime Minister in Robbie's favour and says the country and world will heal, because those who truly love freedom will never rest in its defence. The series ends with Robbie and Colin again sharing power but working together, and Robbie swearing to uphold President Tanner's belief in democracy.

Main cast

• Vijay Kanya as Robbie Dahl .
  Robbie has come back to politics after six years in the advertising sector, and despite his reputation as a spin doctor, has an uncanny sense for how to act in a crisis and is very well-connected from his days as a political adviser. Robbie is reluctant to return but does so out of loyalty to his country and, more critically, his wife’s determination. In season one, Robbie aids the Prime Minister with a developing international crisis involving a Chinese government conspiracy, and in season two he continues to investigate with the help of journalist Matt Norris, until he resigns in the final episode. In the third series, Robbie and Ingrid work as political consultants for the opposition during the election campaign, and he becomes increasingly exposed as his knowledge of the conspiracy becomes public. In season four, Robbie actively opposes the Authority from overseas and exposes their plans in a live broadcast, bringing them down and becoming the effective leader of a popular uprising. In Season 5 Robbie is first Prime Minister and then Leader of the Opposition, working with Colin to finally bring down the international Authority, before ending the series as Prime Minister once again, with the implication that he will be in office for a long time due to his popularity and devotion.

• Amy Rowe as Ingrid Dahl , Robbie’s wife and closest confidante.
  At the beginning of the show she is an environmental activist, but is fired in the seventh episode of the season when she takes the fall for her boss’s corruption in order to expose him later as a Chinese spy. At the end of the season one finale, Ingrid is kidnapped by shadowy agents of a foreign government, and is rescued by Robbie and Matt in the premiere episode of season two. Halfway through the second season, Ingrid begins working for the government, until she resigns with Robbie in the season finale. In the third series, Ingrid works with Robbie for Yates and the opposition but she is bombarded with questions about her role in the events of the previous two series. Throughout series four, Ingrid works with Robbie to oppose the regime, but stays in Australia with their children when he returns to Georgeland to expose the Authority. In the fifth series Ingrid struggles with her new role as a politician's wife, but eventually becomes an MP herself and part of the committee investigating the Authority.

• Josephine Kennedy as Irene Wheatley (real name Helen Beck). The widow of deceased former prime minister Alan Wheatley, she murdered him along with several of his political rivals over the years, information which is not generally known. Officially confined to a mental institution after a breakdown following her husband’s (unsolved) murder, Irene goes by the name ‘Joan Daley’ and has altered her appearance in order to interact with others, but she is rarely seen in public. She is implied to have an intelligence background, and acts as an unofficial adviser to the prime minister, although this is a recent development and apparently related to Irene’s past and connections. She refuses to discuss her husband’s death, or acknowledge Robbie’s knowledge of the truth. Cold, calculating and devious, nobody entirely trusts her; however, at the end of the first season she does risk her life in order to save Robbie, and appears to genuinely wish to see Ingrid rescued. It was her idea to entice Robbie to help, and she arranges a visit from former president Joan Tanner in the final episode of Season 1.  in order to convince him to risk his life. In season two, Irene appears to be an intelligence agent, and recruits Danny to her unnamed, and possibly rogue, agency. In the second series, Irene's loyalties are unclear and she eventually reveals that she is the director of a rogue intelligence agency created by her husband. At the end of the second season as the conspiracy is exposed, Irene disappears. She re-emerges halfway through the third season, in hiding, before publicly revealing her identity to the world and blaming the conspiracy on her late husband. In season four her motivations are revealed, as she is working for the Authority as part of a plan to set up a police state across Western nations; she assassinates Dell on live TV before assuming control as intelligence and propaganda chief. When her plans are exposed and the Authority is about to be overthrown at the end of the season, she is seen boarding a flight in disguise, attempting to flee the country. Irene's birth name of Helen Beck is revealed in season five, where Irene is offered immunity and protection in exchange for ratting out the rest of the Authority; her attempt to escape justice in Hungary initially succeeds but she finds herself isolated and vulnerable, and strikes a deal. Before she can go back on her word, and after threatening Colin and Robbie, Ingrid is shot dead in her car by Fife who then kills herself to avoid reprisals.

• Elizabeth Wilson as Gabby Sinclair (Seasons 1-2 & 5), Prime Minister of Georgeland. As with prime ministers in the original show, her political affiliation is not mentioned. She is a nationalist and a tough negotiator, but has a strong moral code which is slowly being eroded, not least because of Irene’s influence. She has been in office four years at the start of the first series after a period in opposition; she was also Minister for Defence at one point in the past, when Chinese operatives attempted, and failed, to recruit her as a spy. In the final episode Ingrid implies, but does not directly state, that Sinclair may in fact be a spy after all, although for whom is unclear. This is confirmed at the end of season two, when Sinclair is forced to resign rather than face treason charges, although it is also stated that she was not working for China. She is succeeded as Prime Minister by Scott Dell at the end of the second season. Sinclair was referred to but did not appear in the third season of the program. In season four she is mentioned as having been a potential influential figure in the government-in-exile but does not appear. Gabby returns in the fifth season as the acting President; she has been pardoned for her role, which is revealed to have been working against the Authority in tandem with other intelligence agencies. Sinclair is implied to be the full-time president in the series finale where she attends Fife's funeral.
• Danny Cable as Matt Norris (Seasons 1-2), an investigative journalist who reports on the unfolding crisis, but is gradually brought into Robbie and Sinclair’s confidence to act as an undercover intelligence operative, using his sources to help them expose the conspiracy. By the end of season one he is being interviewed by intelligence services, apparently with a view to becoming a full-time operative. In season two, he is an intelligence agent undercover as a journalist, working directly for or with Irene. For part of season two, Matt is stationed in Syria, tracking down a contact of Irene's that has disappeared. At the end of the second season, Norris is arrested on Grace Fife's orders, but he mysteriously dies in custody. 
• David Boozman as Scott Dell, Attorney-General of Georgeland (Seasons 2-3). Young and idealistic, Dell is a supporter of Sinclair within his party but not much of a powerbroker. His goal is to ‘tame’ rogue elements within the intelligence community and simply national security procedures, but the crisis forces him to adapt, and take some extraordinary measures. His wife Linda is killed in Episode 6, and after a short leave of absence, Dell returns determined to find the culprits and unmask the conspiracy.  Dell continues to serve in the government in season two, but increasingly turns against Sinclair, eventually forcing her resignation. He is elected to succeed her. 
  For the third season, Dell is Prime Minister and adamant about stamping out the conspiracy without revealing too much to the public. He and Fife argue over tactics, and he is dismayed at Robbie's decision to work for the opposition. Dell is present at the House of Commons when it is bombed in the season three final, and in season four is shown as a paraplegic and head of a puppet unity government until he is assassinated on live TV when he speaks out against the emergency powers.
• Rae Green as Grace Fife (Seasons 1-5). Fife is Director-General of the (fictional) National Intelligence Office, and the government’s ‘intelligence supremo’. It is Fife who delivers advice to Sinclair on national security matters. She strongly opposes Robbie’s appointment, but Irene’s role as Sinclair’s adviser is unknown to her until Episode 9. She is offended when a Chinese agent attempts to influence her, suggesting she is loyal to her country, but is also seen to pursue a morally-questionable agenda, and may in fact be working against Sinclair in some other way. She and Dell force Sinclair's resignation in the second season, and is tasked by Dell of getting to the bottom of the apparently rogue intelligence agency infiltrating the high levels of the national governnment, and she orders Matt's death as part of a plan to take down Irene. 
  In the third series, Fife has consolidated her power and is considered the most powerful civil servant in the country. She works with Dell to track down and root out the conspirators but is blindsided when Irene and Robbie both go public. After the terrorist attack, Fife is seen activating emergency powers leaving her, effectively, in charge of the government. In season four, she inadvertently gives the Authority the powers they need to take over the government and is removed from office; she is exiled to Australia along with Robbie, Ingrid and Richardson, and helps to expose the Authority. In the fifth season Fife works for Robbie as Chief of Staff and is suffering panic attacks due to her guilt over inadvertently aiding the Authority, a role kept secret from the public. After failed attempts to extradite Irene from Hungary, Fife leads efforts to strike a deal with Irene in exchange for information; in the series final, Fife kills Irene in her car and then kills herself to stop reprisals against her family.
• Richard Dexter as Tony Yates, the Leader of the Opposition (Recurring Season 2, regular Season 3). A charismatic man of principle, he is Robbie and Ingrid's employer in the third season as he works to become prime minister and expose the conspiracy. Robbie describes him as very Tanner-like in his convictions and it is stated that he had been a backbencher for most of Robbie's time in Topstad. Yates is killed in the House of Commons bombing at the end of the third season.
• Toby Bryant as Colin Richardson, Attorney-General in Dell's government. (Seasons 3-5). He is nominally Fife's boss, but the two have an antagonistic relationship. A staunch ally of the PM, he and Dell fall out over the emergency powers legislation and he resigns to join the opposition in the penultimate episode of the third season. In the final season he is not present at the Houses of Parliament when they are bombed, and he watches the events on television. He is the nominal head of the government-in-exile in the fourth season; in season five he works in the unity government under Robbie and then becomes Prime Minister himself, before resigning in Robbie's favour.
• Eliza Bennett as Alice Gourley (Seasons 3-5), the English-born secretary and personal assistant for Robbie and Ingrid's business in the third season. She gets unwittingly drawn further and further into events and begins an affair with a senator, who later turns out to be working for Irene.  In series four she works with Robbie and Ingrid in Australia. In the teaser for the fifth series, Alice is seen working for Robbie and Ingrid in government.

Guest stars

• Colin Beach as Luke Tanner, son of the former president of Georgeland . Luke makes a surprise appearance in episode 4 of the first season. No longer a troubled, drug-abusing youth, Luke has become a respected social worker and community activist, living in a small town with his second wife, Della (Brianna Coombes) and their children. Luke attends a party to which Robbie and Ingrid are also invited, and he speaks fondly of them to Fife and Dell. Later, Luke admits to Robbie that he was also once approached by foreign agents, but he flatly turned them down.
  Beach reprised his role from Martin Hall.
• Rebecca Jordan-Wiley as Joan Tanner , former President of Georgeland. In the closing minutes of the series finale, Tanner finds Robbie contemplating suicide after his wife’s kidnapping and the enormity of the situation faced by the country, and the world, and talks to him about their time together, and convinces him to take drastic action to save both his wife and the country. She tells Robbie that she has been ‘keeping busy’; in the series’ first episode, Robbie mentions Tanner is now on the board of UNICEF.
  Tanner re-appeared in the fifth and sixth episodes of the second season, in a story arc that ended with her death at the hands of Irene Wheatley, apparently on Sinclair's orders. Later it is shown that Irene took instructions from her (unseen) superiors in her agency, and Sinclair did not know about the action. Tanner's death from assassination is covered up as natural causes. Her state funeral appears in episode nine. 
  Jordan-Wiley was the star of Martin Hall. Her initial appearance on Executive Power was a closely-guarded secret known only to the showrunners and a few of the crew. After her episode aired, she tweeted that she had not yet been asked to reprise her role in Season Two, but that she was definitely not going to be making regular appearances as she has largely retired from acting. Her character was confirmed to return in early 2019. After her character's death, Tanner revealed it was her own request, as she felt the character needed a closure to allow viewers to move past the show's origins and let the new program stand on its own. 
• Kevin Bosley as Alan Wheatley. The former Prime Minister of Georgeland, who was killed by Irene at the end of Martin Hall, is seen in the first episode of season two in flashback. It was he who evidently empowered or created the shadowy rogue intelligence force Irene works for, and Irene was recruited for it after his death.
  Bosley's cameo was filmed in secret, like Jordan-Wiley's from the first season, and was a surprise to viewers. Afterwards, Bosley stated that he didn't feel like he would be asked to appear again. In an interview with Peter Rogers, he said Well I'm dead now. That was a one-time thing. I don't want to go back to that role really; if it suits the show, maybe, but I feel it's probably just a one-off. 
• Jonas McCool as Cameron Wicks, Defence Minister in Dell's government (Season 3). He enthusiastically supports the new emergency powers legislation.
• Jason Mitchum as Gordon Barry, Foreign Minister under both Sinclair and Dell. (Season 2-3)
• David Wenham as Gerald Knight, the Australian Ambassador to Georgeland (Season 3)
• Simon Baker as Peter Shannon, the Australian Prime Minister, who is unwilling to intervene against the Authority. Shannon later joins world leaders in condemning authoritarianism at the United Nations (Season 4 and Season 5)
• Duncan Cook as Mike Powell, the US Ambassador to the UN (Season 4)
• Ricky Hobbes as the (unnamed) President of the United States (Season 5)
• Jerry Bannon as Lazlo Szocac, Prime Minister of Hungary (Season 5)
• Cody-Jean Barr as the UN Secretary General (Season 5)