The Politician’s Wife

Screenwriter Paula Milne’s stunning trilogy centers on Flora Matlock (perfectly played by Juliet Stevenson) as the unsuspecting wife of a distinguished but adulterous M.P., depicted with appropriate indifference by Trevor Eve. After the tabloid press exposes his romance with a young researcher (Minnie Driver), his political advisors and mentors and her family beg her to help with “damage control.” Instead, she resolves to deal covertly with the ongoing infidelity. Her plot to achieve ultimate revenge on the Parliamentarian, a supposed champion of “family values,” takes a number of ingenious and clever twists as it reaches its surprising conclusion. The canny production, in the great tradition of British thrillers, owes its impact to Ms. Milne, producers Neal Weisman, Jenny Edwards, and Jeanna Polley, director Graham Theakston and an outstanding company of actors. For presenting a superb and timely portrayal of one woman’s public humiliation and ultimate retribution, a Peabody to The Producers Films and Channel 4, London, England, for The Politician’s Wife.