“I had filmed the last season of Succession…then Stonehouse came along and I could not turn it down.

“To go from Succession to Stonehouse is just the best as an actor. Because it’s different. You’re flexing different muscles.

“It was exhausting because it was filming every day with a lot of different make up changes…but I really enjoyed it. I’m very glad it came my way.”

Matthew Macfadyen talking to me about new three part drama Stonehouse, which begins on ITV1 at 9pm next Monday (January 2) and continues over the next two nights.

Also available to watch next week via ITVX.

Matthew takes the lead in the extraordinary true story of how in 1974 the once high flying British politician John Stonehouse faked his own death in Florida before later being discovered in Australia.

With Matthew’s real life wife Keeley Hawes reuniting with him on screen once again to play Stonehouse’s wife Barbara.

Rising star Emer Heatley plays the Labour MP’s parliamentary secretary Sheila Buckley in a drama that stretches over several decades.

With Kevin R. McNally as Labour prime minister Harold Wilson and Dorothy Atkinson as his assistant chief whip Betty Boothroyd, who later became a legendary House of Commons’ Speaker.

Written by John Preston and directed by Jon S. Baird, Stonehouse is both moving and comedic, set against the background of a rather tragic and sad story.

It’s beautifully told by all involved and perhaps not what some might be expecting.

You can read my interviews for ITV with Matthew Macfadyen (John Stonehouse), Keeley Hawes (Barbara Stonehouse), Emer Heatley (Sheila Buckley) and Kevin R. McNally (Harold Wilson) at the link below.

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