Keeley Hawes reunites onscreen with husband Matthew Macfadyen for the first time since Ashes To Ashes in Stonehouse on ITV.
They will play a real-life couple in what promises to be a gripping three-part period drama.
Stonehouse tells the real-life story of disgraced Labour minister John Stonehouse (played by Matthew) with Keeley playing his wife Barbara.
Who was MP John Stonehouse?
Stonehouse was a high-flying member of Labour leader Harold Wilson’s Government.
Then, one day in November 1974, he vanished from the beach of a large luxury hotel in Florida, leaving a neatly folded pile of clothes as he swam into the sea, intent on faking his own death.
The MP for Walsall North left behind his loving wife Barbara and three young children as a shocked public and media presumed he drowned – or sharks ate him!
From a working-class background, Stonehouse graduated from the London School of Economics.
He was in the RAF during the War and seemed the ideal candidate for a life in politics.
Spy secret
Charismatic and confident, he had impressed Wilson and Labour stalwarts from an early stage in his parliamentary career.
As the drama unfolds, it becomes apparent his reputation as a devoted family man masked the truth.
He had embarked on an extra marital affair with his secretary, Sheila Buckley, and acted as a spy for the Czech Secret Service in the 1960s.
Add to that financial complexities.
Read more: When did Keeley Hawes marry Matthew Macfadyen and how many children do they have?
Stonehouse stole the identity of a recently deceased constituent, as life became too much.
He applied for a passport in the dead man’s name. He then began to weave an elaborate conspiracy, seeking a new life in Australia.
But his plans were thwarted by Australian police who arrested him under the mistaken impression that he was the fugitive peer Lord Lucan.
He was brought back to the UK by Scotland Yard detectives. Stonehouse then found he was crucial to keeping the Labour government in power with its wafer-thin majority.
What happened to John Stonehouse is the stuff of legend.
The drama also stars Emer Heatley from Showtrial as Stonehouse’s mistress Sheila Buckley, The Crown’s Kevin R McNally (Unforgotten) as Harold Wilson, and Mum star Dorothy Atkinson as Betty Boothroyd.
Matthew Macfadyen on Stonehouse role
Matthew Macfadyen, now a global star thanks to his role in HBO/Sky smash-hit Succession, says: “What happened to John Stonehouse is the stuff of legend.
“I’ve always been intrigued by what motivated him to fake his own death, and leave behind the family he loved and doted upon and a promising political career.
“John Preston’s script truly captures the man and his colourful life and I’m looking forward to taking on his character.”
Preston adds: “The story of how [Stonehouse] faked his own death and tried to start a new life in Australia under an assumed name is one of the most bizarre true-life tales I’ve ever come across.”
When will Stonehouse be on?
ITV has only just announced the commission of the series, so don’t expect to see it on TV in 2022.
But, with two actors at the very top of their game leading the cast, it’ll be worth the wait!
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