AVERAGE

A TALE OF FRIENDSHIP AND BETRAYAL THAT CHANGED A NATION.

Director Stephen Frears turned to television for this tale, which is sort of a prequel to The Queen (2006).

It’s the story of how future Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown first met and eventually came to a bitter understanding regarding the future of the Labour Party after the death of leader John Smith in 1994, three years before Blair and Brown would move into Downing Street.

Hardly riveting, but it’s interesting to see how the actors sum up the two men – Michael Sheen as a charming but untrustworthy Blair, David Morrissey as a glum and resentful Brown. 

2003-U.K. 90 min. Color. Directed by Stephen Frears. Teleplay: Peter Morgan. Book: James Naughtie (”The Rivals”). Cast: David Morrissey (Gordon Brown), Michael Sheen (Tony Blair), Frank Kelly (John Smith), Paul Rhys, Dexter Fletcher, Elizabeth Berrington. 

Trivia: Sheen also played Blair in The Special Relationship (2010).