John Stonehouse

A new ITV drama series starring Matthew Macfadyen and Keeley Hawes depicts the rise and extraordinary fall of John Stonehouse. British politician John ...

Stonehouse was 49 at the time, and was mired in debt and addicted to prescription drugs. There are three episodes in total, airing on consecutive nights at the same time (concluding on Wednesday), with each instalment lasting an hour. [told i last year](https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/people/my-father-john-stonehouse-mp-faked-own-death-spy-historians-say-1110532?ico=in-line_link) that she was baffled as to why the word of Frolík and his colleagues was relied upon: “These were some of the most dangerous people in the world – devious killers.” He told the then prime minister that “he was sure that Mr Stonehouse had been a spy for the Czechoslovakians but he had no evidence which he could put before the jury”. Sir Michael added that if Stonehouse was confronted, “it was quite likely he would make a public fuss and claim that he was being persecuted by the government”. The allegation was levelled after the MP made a series of visits to the country, which was then part of the Soviet Eastern Bloc, but he defended himself and remained in office. [Matthew Macfadyen](https://inews.co.uk/culture/television/matthew-macfadyen-tom-wambsgans-succession-series-three-watch-uk-jesse-armstrong-1267304?ico=in-line_link) and [Keeley Hawes](https://inews.co.uk/topic/keeley-hawes?ico=in-line_link), [Stonehouse ](https://inews.co.uk/culture/television/stonehouse-cast-who-matthew-macfadyen-itv-series-when-how-many-episodes-2060643?ico=in-line_link)explores [ the political rise and fall](https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/mp-tells-tale-of-labour-politician-who-faked-his-death-and-fled-to-australia-to-avoid-parliament-377115?ico=in-line_link) of [the Labour MP who attempted to fake his own death in 1974](https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/people/my-father-john-stonehouse-mp-faked-own-death-spy-historians-say-1110532?ico=in-line_link). Inspired by Frederick Forsyth’s thriller The Day of the Jackal, he had stolen the identity of a dead constituent, Joseph Markham, to get a passport in his name and intended to begin a new life in Melbourne. Stonehouse was accused of being a spy for Czechoslovakia in 1969 by Josef Frolík, a defector from the Czech secret services. Born in 1925, John Stonehouse was active in the co-operative movement and a longtime anti-colonial campaigner who was elected a Labour MP in 1957. [the extraordinary real life events](https://inews.co.uk/culture/television/john-stonehouse-true-story-mp-faked-own-death-spy-who-died-twice-channel-4-1620256?ico=in-line_link) that inspired the series, including what we know about the long-standing rumours that Stonehouse was a spy for Czechoslovakia. [bizarre true story of John Stonehouse](https://inews.co.uk/culture/television/john-stonehouse-true-story-mp-faked-own-death-spy-who-died-twice-channel-4-1620256?ico=in-line_link) is being depicted in [a new ITV drama](https://inews.co.uk/culture/television/stonehouse-cast-who-matthew-macfadyen-itv-series-when-how-many-episodes-2060643?ico=in-line_link) series [this week](https://inews.co.uk/culture/television/whats-on-tv-bank-holiday-monday-stonehouse-silent-witness-mayfair-hotel-megabuild-gogglebox-2043961?ico=in-line_link).

A drama series depicting the curious story of MP John Stonehouse faking his own death begins on ITV tonight (Jan 2). The tale will be told in three episodes ...

Stonehouse will be available to watch on ITV at 9pm on January 2, 2023. As the drama unfolds, it becomes apparent his reputation as a devoted family man masked the truth, as he’d embarked on an extra marital affair with his secretary, Sheila Buckley, and acted as a spy for the Czech Secret Service in the 1960s. Baird and written by John Preston, will show the MP’s rise to prominence in Harold Wilson’s Labour government and the bizarre events surrounding him.

New ITV drama Stonehouse kicks off tonight with Emmy award-winning actor Matthew Macfadyen taking on the role of disgraced Labour minister John Stonehouse.

‘The story of how he faked his own death and tried to start a new life in Australia under an assumed name is one of the most bizarre true-life tales I’ve ever come across,’ he said. He was then arrested in Melbourne on 24 December 1974 and six months later he was deported to the UK. Inquiries led the teller to find out that the money was in the name of Joe Markham and he informed the local police. In reality, Stonehouse was on his way to Australia, hoping to set up a new life with his mistress and secretary, Sheila Buckley. At first it had been presumed that Stonehouse had drowned at sea or been eaten by sharks, however, it soon transpired that he had uprooted to Australia to start a new life with his mistress. Stonehouse is a dramatized series of the life of John Stonehouse by acclaimed writer John Preston.

CHRISTOPHER STEVENS: These days, John Stonehouse MP wouldn't have to fake his own death... he could rehabilitate himself simply by going on I'm A Celebrity.

Whether for legal reasons or just because it’s more amusing, the drama makes it clear that Stonehouse betrayed nothing of importance to the Eastern Bloc. His downfall begins on a trade mission in the 1960s to Czechoslovakia, when his sultry translator declares over dinner that she’s agog for his rampant masculine charisma. His wife Mary thinks most of the men look like battered saucepans. The Soviets had a word for movies like that: Kompromat. Stonehouse looks awkwardly guilty for a moment and then decides he’s got away with it. It beggars belief that Stonehouse maintained a political career as long as he did.

Screenwriter John Preston unpacks the shocking true story of Labour MP John Stonehouse, who faked his death in the 1970s and fled to Australia.

"So that is plainly a poignant moment and I was clear from the beginning that I wanted it to be both poignant and funny. But I think that he sort of desperately tried to adjust to these changing circumstances, and in doing so behaved in an increasingly absurd way." [subscribe now](http://radiotimes.com/magazine-subscription?utm_term=evergreen-article). He had bad mental health, coupled with the effects of Mandrax, [a sedative] also known as Quaaludes, that he was taking in 1966 while he was a government minister, flying about everywhere." "The Czechs had recruited quite a lot of MPs and trade union leaders at the time, none of whom I think delivered anything of any usefulness at all. But it set a story going that has lasted decades," she added. [RadioTimes.com](http://radiotimes.com): "Why did both [Jeremy] Thorpe and Stonehouse behave in this completely ridiculous way? "But I think, even by those standards, Stonehouse was unusually bad. [Drama](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/) coverage or visit our [TV Guide](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/tv-listings/) and [Streaming Guide](https://www.radiotimes.com/streaming-guide/) to find out what's on. Preston added: "In a funny kind of way, the deeper he went into the story, the more ludicrous his behaviour almost had to become to adjust to the kind of changing circumstances. When he never returned, the immediate assumption was that he had drowned, but in fact, he had sneaked away and flown to Australia using a fake passport in the name of a dead constituent. "We knew that.

Matthew Macfadyen has compared his role in ITV's Stonehouse to his fan favourite Succession character Tom Wambsgans, finding a connection between the two.

[subscribe now](http://radiotimes.com/magazine-subscription?utm_term=evergreen-article). "But also, he wasn't without vanity and he liked the trappings of his position the more success he had in party politics. "There is that vanity that you spot, certainly in politicians. So there was stuff to be mined, which is similar: two sorts of grotesques." [Drama](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/) coverage or visit our [TV Guide](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/tv-listings/) and [Streaming Guide](https://www.radiotimes.com/streaming-guide/) to find out what else is on. "They're a long way from each other, but they both like the trappings of power and being near power.

But two decades later he was a national disgrace, had unsuccessfully faked his own death, and been jailed for fraud, all while spying for Britain's Cold War ...

He survived, but on April 14 he was admitted to Southampton General hospital after suffering his fourth heart attack. A ceremonial service was held in the House of Commons and that was that. So Stonehouse remained in the public eye and even returned to politics. He was locked up in Wormwood Scrubs. The interest in finding him was astronomical. He was John Stonehouse. In September 1980, Margaret Thatcher and her Conservative government learnt from a second Czech defector about Stonehouse’s spying. He was made Minister of State for Technology in 1967. He flew to Australia, assumed another new identity, that of another dead constituent called Clive Mildoon, and rendezvoused with Miss Buckley. But before Stonehouse, who boasted an IQ of 140, got his first big break as a junior minister in 1964, his head had been turned. He was 32. A canny political operator with fierce ambition, Stonehouse seemed destined for the top.