How to Win the TV Debate

60 minutes

4/12/2010

Overview

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'.

Cast List

Michael Cockerell
as Self - Presenter
Neil Kinnock
as Self
Charles Kennedy
as Self
Michael Dobbs
as Self
Don Hewitt
as Self
Richard Nixon
as Self (archive footage)
John F. Kennedy
as Self (archive footage)
Robin Day
as Self (archive footage)
Nikita Khrushchev
as Self (archive footage)
Ted Sorensen
as Self
Ted Rogers
as Self
Bill Wilson
as Self
Pat Buchanan
as Self
Pierre Salinger
as Self (archive footage)
Harold Wilson
as Self (archive footage)
Alec Douglas-Home
as Self (archive footage)
Edward Heath
as Self (archive footage)
Lady Falkender
as Self (archive footage)
Jimmy Carter
as Self (archive footage)
David Gergen
as Self
Gerald Ford
as Self (archive footage)
Harry Reasoner
as Self (archive footage)
James Callaghan
as Self (archive footage)
Margaret Thatcher
as Self (archive footage)
Ronald Reagan
as Self (archive footage)
Nancy Reagan
as Self (archive footage)
Walter Mondale
as Self (archive footage)
Mike Pengra
as Self (archive footage)
Mark Goode
as Self (archive footage)
Harry Trewitt
as Self (archive footage)
John Major
as Self (archive footage)
Bill Clinton
as Self (archive footage)
George H. W. Bush
as Self (archive footage)
Frank Luntz
as Self
Alan Schroeder
as Self
Tony Blair
as Self (archive footage)
Peter Mandelson
as Self
Lance Price
as Self
William Hague
as Self (archive footage)
George W. Bush
as Self
Al Gore
as Self (archive footage)
Jim Lehrer
as Self
Barack Obama
as Self (archive footage)
John McCain
as Self (archive footage)
David Cameron
as Self (archive footage)
Gordon Brown
as Self (archive footage)
Nick Clegg
as Self (archive footage)
Sue Inglish
as Self
Andy Coulson
as Self (archive footage)
David Davis
as Self (archive footage)