The West Wing
BOXSET
It’s famously said in politics that you “campaign in poetry and govern in prose.” It’s a far cry from the language emanating from the current incumbent of the White House which has, sadly, fallen short of either at times during the past four years.
All the more reason then to seek solace in one of the best TV dramas of this, or any era, The West Wing. This US political drama series, which first aired in 1999, is primarily set in the West Wing of the White House during the fictitious Democratic administration of Josiah
‘Jed’ Bartlet (superbly played by Martin Sheen).
The driving force behind the series was screenwriter and director Aaron Sorkin and over the course of its seven-year run it won a slew of awards (including 27 Emmys), drawing praise for its scripts. It is also credited with developing so-called “walk and talk” filming techniques which helped create an added sense of realism.
Above all, and what really makes it work, are the characters (your favourite is likely to change with each passing episode).
It features a president whose biggest fault was having the occasional sneaky cigarette on the patio outside the Oval Office. He acted like a grown-up and was surrounded by other adults who had the best interests of all their citizens at heart. Watching it now, it seems like an impossibly quaint fantasy.
It was criticised in some quarters as an over-idealised representation of politics and politicians and that may be true – it’s politics as we’d like it to be, rather than how it is. But if The West Wing was reality, then the world would be a better place.