28th May 2001|Channel 4
As part of Channel 4’s ‘Politics isn’t Working’ season, Hardcash Productions produced ‘Party Crashers’: an undercover half hour documentary about the preparations for the 2001 UK General Election.
Our 3 moles, Zoe Spyropoulos, Satinder Chohan and Ben Marriott, had the task of finding employment inside the HQs of the main three political parties, posing as politically active young people with a few months to kill.
Their plan was to show how the election machines worked, which rules were abided by, which broken, and how the increasingly Americanised, publicity-fuelled election campaigns of our beloved representatives were run. The team found themselves with tasks of varying kudos. Satinder, who infiltrated the Liberal Democrat camp, was promoted to International Press Liaison Officer, while our resident Tory-boy Ben found himself being called out to take part in a kind of rent-a-crowd to jeer Labour candidates and applaud Conservatives.
‘Party Crashers’ was a funny, mostly light-hearted look at an otherwise dreadfully dull election. It demystified the campaigning machines and shed light on the publicity-dependant processes which make or break MPs, political parties and, of course, their leaders.
Directed & Produced by Cassian Harrison
Executive Producer: David Henshaw