Acting
Current affairs programme, featuring interviews and investigative reports on a wide variety of subjects.
Timewatch is a long-running British television series showing documentaries on historical subjects, spanning all human history. It was first broadcast on 29 September 1982 and is produced by the BBC, the Timewatch brandname is used as a banner title in the UK, but many of the individual documentaries can be found on US cable channels without the branding.
Michael Cockerell tells the inside story of Tony Blair's controversial ten years at the top. Candid interviews with Downing Street insiders, Cabinet colleagues and rivals cast new light on key events and on the Prime Minister's complex character.
A docudrama about the early lives of politicians Boris Johnson and David Cameron.
Queen Elizabeth has worked with 14 Prime Ministers, including holding confidential weekly meetings. It is not known whether she has influenced her Prime Ministers, or what happens when they clash.
Michael Cockerell reports on the work of political lobbyists
A revealing one-off documentary that provides an inside view of how Tony Blair and former prime ministers - including Harold Wilson, Margaret Thatcher and John Major - have run their cabinet, the highest decision-making body in the land. Through candid interviews, rare archive footage and filming inside No 10, presenter Michael Cockerell opens the door to the Government's own chamber of secrets as he seeks the answer to the question: is the notion of cabinet government an obsolete concept?
With Britain's first-ever political leaders' television debate imminent, award-winning reporter Michael Cockerell uncovers what it's like to take part in these contests and how leaders try to win them. He tells the inside story of why it has taken so long for such debates to arrive in the UK. The programme features candid interviews with US Presidents and their advisers on the tricks of the debate trade. Blending new film and behind-the-scenes footage, some never seen before, it's a tragicomic tale of high politics and low cunning. From John F Kennedy and Richard Nixon through to Barack Obama, candidates are seen being prepared for their debates, then in the sometimes funny, sometimes disastrous results on live television. Cockerell shows why for our would-be next Prime Ministers - Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg - the three debate stages across Britain will be what one former US President calls 'Tension City'.
Michael Cockerell presents this documentary on the health problems of Britain's Prime Ministers.
A profile of Michael Foot, the former leader of the Labour Party, which included footage of him on the night of Tony Blair’s historic 1997 victory, and interviews with his wife, the filmmaker Jill Cragie, and some of his old colleagues and friends, including Barbara Castle, Spike Milligan and Salman Rushdie.
Political documentary maker Michael Cockerell profiles Britain's new prime minister, Boris Johnson.
Last December's "Cheriegate" affair did little to abate the rampant public cynicism reserved for politicians - a mistrust evidenced in the turnout at the 2001 general election, which was the lowest for more than 80 years. In this documentary, Michael Cockerell talks to figures including Edwina Currie, Max Clifford, Geoffrey Robinson and Neil Hamilton in an effort to see if spin, sleaze and ministerial failure is to blame, or whether the media's sneering political coverage is most at fault.
BBC Documentary 'News From Number 10' (2000) Presented by Michael Cockerell A look behind the scenes of Number 10 Downing Street, the official residence and office of British Prime Minister Tony Blair. In 2000 the BBC followed Prime Minister's Press Secretary Alastair Campbell during his daily routines and dealings with the British press.
A film portrait of Former Conservative and Unionist Party Politician, Enoch Powell.
Michael Cockerell tells the story of how prime ministers have coped with life after Number Ten, after Tony Blair became the youngest member of the ex-PMs' club for a hundred years. The film reveals who left office bankrupt, who did TV commercials for Cheshire cheese, who had his own chat show and who has never had a single happy day since leaving Number Ten. Cockerell, who met the eight PMs prior to Blair, looks at what Tony planned do next and just how many millions he could make from being an ex-PM.
It begins with cheers but almost always ends in tears. Yet, as the election looms, competition for the top job grows ever more intense. Why? The hours are terrible, money so-so, job security non-existent. On the plus side, there's free accommodation in central London and probably more power over your country than any other leader in the western world. With the help of the present and previous incumbents, Michael Cockerell offers the first "how to" guide to the job of prime minister.
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It was the exact same effect induced by Michael Cockerell’s film Boris Johnson: the Irresistible Rise last night on BBC Two. Regardless of what you think of Johnson’s politics or predilections, the man is TV gold. In the name of journalistic objectivity Cockerell’s film dutifully included musings from Boris’s sister Rachel, his father Stanley, former editors and school chums. Some of it was moderately revealing, but the money shot was the blond bombshell, live and unleashed.
A Film Portrait of Edward Heath. Edward Heath was one of the most controversial Prime Ministers this century. He took Britain into Europe, but was brought down by the very trades unions he sought to tame. In an intimate Portrait Sir Edward talks candidly about his life and career, and of his stormy relationship with his successors.
