WITHIN THE INNER CIRCLE: "WASHINGTON BEHIND CLOSED DOORS"

Absolute Power! L-R: Esker Scott Anderson (Andy Griffith), President Richard Monckton (Jason Robards), William Martin (Cliff Robertson) and Frank Flaherty (Robert Vaughn) in WASHINGTON BEHIND CLOSED DOORS. Image: PARAMOUNT.

This afternoon, the TRUE MOVIES 1 channel in the UK gives us the much welcome re-airing of the critically acclaimed and classic political US TV drama mini-series WASHINGTON BEHIND CLOSED DOORS. Featuring an incredible all-star cast seventies cast that would make Irwin Allen jealous (including Robert Vaughn (whom, with an interest in politics which has always been in his life blood, would proudly win a Best Supporting Actor Emmy for the series), Stefanie Powers, Jason Robards, Cliff Robertson and Andy Griffith), this complex award winning drama charts the life and career of a fictitious US President within the Oval Office (Robards, whose character was conceived in a deliberate portrayal not too far removed from real-life President Nixon) and his ambitious and power hungry ambitions within office, aided and abetted by his equally hungry cabinet and other political staff/associates.

These days we're all too used to seeing how the White House works in shows like THE WEST WING and in all-access behind the scenes documentaries, but during the seventies such things were still rare and new, and this mini-series would prove to be a compelling and very intelligent look at life in Washington, with its unique insights into the life of the President of the most powerful country in the world and what went on behind the scenes in decision making that would affect all of our lives on a daily and long-term basis. Its also a tale of glamour, jealousy, rivalry, back-stabbing, scandal, vice and bed-hopping, involving equally ambitious women, in the best Harold Robbins tradition, and was not just popular in the US; soon becoming must see TV on Sunday nights on the UK's BBC 1 channel towards the end of the seventies, in a time when we were all fascinated with the highs and lows of complex American politics within the White House after the terrible murder/scandal of President John F. Kennedy, WATERGATE, the Vietnam War and the rise and fall of Tricky Dicky, who still remains a cultural icon to be feared, admired and loathed in equal measure, and the subsequent emergence of ex-Cowboy/actor Ronald Regan, who, despite his own set of controversies, remains one of the most popular Presidents that America has ever produced.

Clip: YouTube - Washington Behind Closed Doors. Part 1 of 63

Written by Eric Bercovici, John Ehrlichman and David W. Rintels, produced by MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE's Stanley Kallis, and directed by the accomplished Gary Nelson, this six part 1977 event is on every day this week and, despite a period which showed some truly terrible fashion sense, will no doubt remain compelling quality television.