Press

Daily Mail
12 November 2006
Source

Prescott affair becomes ’saucy’ TV drama

John Prescott and his former diary secretary cosy up outside the House of Commons.

But the pair have not rekindled their affair - they are played by actors in a new ITV1 comedy drama.

Confessions Of A Diary Secretary stars Maxine Peake as Tracey Temple and John Henshaw as the Deputy Prime Minister.

The drama is billed as a “saucy look” at the affair that hit the headlines earlier this year.

The film charts the start of the affair at the office Christmas party in 2002 and runs until the story broke in April.

It is made by the same company that produced A Very Social Secretary, the hit satire about David Blunkett’s fall from grace for More4.

The drama is being filmed on location in London. Executive producer David Aukin said: “Our film will be a thoroughly entertaining account of the affair between Prescott and Tracey.

“It will aim to be a warm and comic piece that offers fresh insight into the upstairs downstairs world of Whitehall, where cabinet ministers and diary secretaries collide - sometimes with embarrassing and hugely amusing consequences.”

Henshaw is known for his roles in Early Doors and Born and Bred, while Shameless and Dinnerladies star Maxine Peake recently starred as Myra Hindley in See No Evil.

The Street actor Daniel Ryan plays Temple’s betrayed boyfriend Barrie Williams.

Mr Prescott was stripped of most of his ministerial responsibilities in a Cabinet reshuffle in May following revelations of the affair.

Ms Temple sold her story - including photos of them canoodling at a party - to a newspaper for a fee reported to run into hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Photos of the Deputy Prime Minister playing croquet at grace-and-favour estate Dorneywood on a working day prompted further criticism. He eventually gave up the perk.

Mr Prescott has also faced attacks over the propriety of his contacts with a US billionaire bidding to turn the Dome into a supercasino.