Channel 4 to use actors alongside real-life footage for a film imagining the party’s first 100 days in Downing Street

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Channel 4 will imagine a country run by Nigel Farage in a spoof documentary which will air in the runup to next year’s general election.

The broadcaster, which has previously used the mockumentary genre to put Tony Blair on trial and execute Gary Glitter, will use actors alongside real-life footage for its fictional portrayal of the Ukip leader in Downing Street.

100 Days of Ukip, a working title, will follow the trials of a newly-elected female MP in Farage’s party as she attempts to follow up its promises to create a new Britain free of interference from Europe. Channel 4 said casting for 100 Days of Ukip will be announced soon.

It will be made by Raw TV, the same production company behind last year’s Channel 4 drama documentary Blackout, exploring the effects of a cyberattack on Britain’s national grid, which also combined fictional scenes with archive material.

Tory defector Douglas Carswell became UKIP’s first elected MP in the Carswell byelection earlier this month.

Farage’s party is tipped to gain its second House of Commons representative at the Rochester and Strood byelection on 20 November following the defection of another Conservative MP, Mark Reckless.

Such has been the surge in support for Ukip that forecasts have suggested Farage could hold the balance of power after the national poll on 7 May next year.

Executive producer Richard Bond said: “With support for Ukip growing in the polls, this is timely exploration of the effect their policies might have on Britain.”

Channel 4 said the fictional documentary would “explore the effects of an imagined future in which Ukip win the general election in May 2015 [and] tell the story of how Britain adapts to a change in government policy and political outlook”.

Nick Mirsky, head of documentaries at Channel 4, said, “This is a very exciting commission from a team known for brave and thought-provoking television.”

Raw TV is also making Channel 4’s Cyber Bully, a real-time docudrama starring Game of Thrones star Maisie Williams.

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