The Stage

Shameless star Peake to play Prescott lover

Published Friday 3 November 2006 at 16:20 by Liz Thomas

See No Evil and Shameless star Maxine Peake is to star alongside Born and Bred actor John Henshaw in the new ITV1 drama satirising deputy prime minister John Prescott’s affair with his diary secretary Tracey Temple.

The drama, entitled Confessions of a Diary Secretary, follows the story of the controversial fling which began at an office Christmas party in 2002 before hitting the headlines last year, leading to calls for Prescott’s resignation. The Street’s Daniel Ryan also features as Temple’s betrayed boyfriend Barrie Williams.

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.”

Penned by Outlaws’ writer Tony Basgallop, the production is being made by Mentorn, the independent production house behind David Blunkett spoof A Very Social Secretary. Directed by Spooks’ Andy Wilson, it is being filmed in London.