UKIP: The First 100 Days, review: A mockumentary to scare the living bejesus out of the electorate
What rang most true were the extrapolations from actual Ukip policy to national events
Your support helps us to tell the story
This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.
The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.
Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.
The 1938 radio broadcast of HG Wells's War of the Worlds famously caused panic among listeners who believed they were hearing news of a real alien invasion. Channel 4 avoided similar with a warning title, "None of the events that follow have actually happened", at the beginning of Ukip: the First 100 Days. Still, it seems likely that this "what if" mockumentary about Ukip in government will have had some viewers stocking up on canned goods and making for the nearest underground bunker.
Writer-director Chris Atkins mixed archive news footage with scripted drama to create a chilling sense of plausibility. So we had Peter Snow's commentary on the swing to the purples and the image of new PM Nigel Farage rebelliously smoking a ciggie out of his car window en route to No 10.
Priyanga Burford also made for a very convincing politician as Deepa Kaur, MP for Romford East and the party's only Asian female. She was outwardly composed, inwardly conflicted and reliant on those same well-worn techniques for side-stepping awkward questions: "That's typical of the media," she scolded her interviewer at one point. "You are always whipping everything up."
What rang most true, however, were the extrapolations from actual Ukip policy to national events. A Brexit from the EU led to industry closures; mass forced deportations proved popular with the public; a new National Pride day was announced; and then there was Deputy Prime Minister Neil Hamilton.
This dystopian vision of a Ukip-ruled UK could hardly be described as "balanced" (shown outside the election period, it didn't have to be), but, even so, it wasn't as vicious an attack as Farage might have feared. Atkins' film always plumped for plausibility over the obvious gag, meaning Ukip were portrayed as a serious electoral prospect. If it had more of The Thick of It's sneer, it might have been funnier, but it would also have been less effective at the job in hand – scaring the bejesus out of mainstream voters.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments