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Absolute Power (radio and TV series)

Television version of British comedy series

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 3, 2026
Entity authorityQ2274417 ↗
Source-derived summary

Absolute Power is a British comedy programme, set in the offices of Prentiss McCabe, a fictional public relations company (or 'government-media relations consultancy') in London, run by Charles Prentiss (Stephen Fry) and Martin McCabe (John Bird).

It started in 2000 on BBC Radio 4, lasting until 2004 with the fourth and final radio series. A six-part television series ran on BBC Two towards the end of 2003; the second six-episode television series ran on BBC Two on Thursdays at 10 pm from 21 July to 25 August 2005. A one-off radio episode was broadcast on 3 November 2006.

The title is taken from a quotation by the historian Lord Acton: "power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely".

Radio version

The programme was devised and written by Mark Tavener, and logically follows the programme In the Red, In the Balance, In the Chair, and In the End which he wrote with Peter Baynham. In some of these, Prentiss and McCabe (again played by Fry and Bird) are elevated members of the BBC, before getting kicked out. Indeed, there is a scene on the last page of the novel In the Red, in which the newly appointed director general of the BBC gives them the sack.

The idea is that after this they created Prentiss McCabe, which is the subject of Absolute Power. The tone and style of Absolute Power is so different from the In the...

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Absolute Power (radio and TV series)” as television version of British comedy series. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Absolute, Power and radio.

Editorial reviewA productive route into publication, performance and collection histories when the underlying object or edition remains clearly identified. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2000, 2004, 2003, 2005—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Absolute, Power and radio providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Absolute Power (radio and TV series)”, the useful work is to connect “television version of British comedy series” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2274417. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2000, 2004, 2003 and 2005.

Critical limits

Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

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  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
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The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Absolute Power (radio and TV series)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Absolute Power (radio and TV series) primary sources, Absolute Power (radio and TV series) archive and Absolute research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Absolute Power (radio and TV series)”?
  2. Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
  3. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Absolute Power (radio and TV series)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.