State of Play (TV series)

2003 British Conspiracy Thriller Miniseries starring David Morrissey as Stephen Collins, a rising star MP whose researcher dies on The London Underground, and John Simm as Cal McCaffrey, an old friend of Collins' who managed his first election campaign and now works as the reporter investigating her death. What starts out as a tabloidy hatchet job quickly turns out to be the tip of a very big iceberg, and the reporters manage to uncover all sorts of unwholesome facts about the government.

Directed by pre-Harry Potter David Yates. Later adapted into a film starring Russell Crowe.

This miniseries contains examples of:

• Bad Liar: Dominic Foy.
• Bittersweet Ending
• Butt Monkey: Dominic Foy.
• Cool Old Guy: Cameron Foster. Cool, calm and collected, he orchestrates the reporters' tactics on the story, and his sense of pride for his protegés is completely palpable.
• Conspiracy Theorist: All the reporters. They're right.
  • Subverted though as the murders which kick off the investigation aren't by the secret service or the evil multinationals — they're carried out for purely personal reasons.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive
• Da Editor: Cameron Foster, a combination of Big Good, Magnificent Bastard and Deadpan Snarker played by a show-stealingly brilliant Bill Nighy.
• Every Man Has His Price: Dominic Foy certainly does.
• Friend on the Force: DCI Bell becomes this for the journalists when it becomes clear that his superiors want the case prematurely closed.
  • DI Brown is one for Della before he gets killed.
• Gambit Pileup: Oh dear God yes. Just try keeping track of Stephen.
• Going for the Big Scoop: The journalists are variously threatened, blackmailed, burgled, held at gunpoint and ordered to stop by their boss, his boss and a High Court judge and still persist.
• Headphones Equal Isolation: The hotel cook completely fails to notice a hitman and a policeman running past him with guns.
• Heroic BSOD: Cal, though fairly short-lived.
• Hot Scoop: Della.
• If It Bleeds, It Leads: The brutal murders are what kickstart the investigation.
• Intrepid Reporter: Cal. And Della. And Dan. And Helen. And Pete. And Syd (sort of).
• Jerkass: Dominic Foy.
• Loads and Loads of Characters
• Love Hurts
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Poor Dominic. He just can't catch a break.
• No Party Given: While it's pretty obvious that Stephen (along with the government) is Labour - e.g. he mentions the Tories as opponents - it's never actually stated.
• Not Quite Dead: The motorcycle courier who witnesses the shooting at the start.
• Psycho for Hire
• Precision F-Strike: "They're offering me a seat. I'll tell them to fuck themselves."
  • "Precision" is the operative word here - the above is delivered not in speech but in written notes. In Parliament no less...!
  • "You're like peas in a fucking pod!"
• Your Cheating Heart: Cal has an affair with Anne, Stephen's wife.