I wasn’t keen on the choice of Matt Smith for the new Doctor Who initially. I thought he was weird looking, far too young and could never replace David Tennant. I began to warm to him though and felt he was good in Moses Jones. I had heard good things about Party Animals, which he had been in, so I bought the DVD from Amazon and we watched it over the past week.
Party Animals is a television series in eight 50-minute episodes. It is set in the world of British politics and behind-the-scenes of the Houses of Parliament. The action is concentrated on both the main political parties. The action concentrates on three of the Conservatives - Shadow Minister James Northcote (played by Patrick Baladi) and his Chief advisor Ashika Chandiramani (Shelley Conn) and Junior researcher Matt Baker (Pip Carter) – and three people from the Labour camp – Home Office Junior Minister Jo Porter (Raquel Cassidy) and her researcher Danny Foster (Matt Smith) and Intern Kirsty MacKenzie (Andrea Riseborough). Moving between both camps is Scott Foster (Andrew Buchan), son of a Labour MP, brother to Matt and a lobbyist
by profession.
It is essentially a drama, but has moments of comedy, tragedy and is a very well-observed and revealing look at a side of British politics we rarely get to see. It is involving straight away and you become quickly interested in the characters, loving and hating with equal passion. The cast is excellent throughout and it is an intelligent script.
Andrew Buchan portrays Scott Foster very well. He has plenty of faults, but is good-natured, charming and you can’t help but like him.
Matt Smith is wonderful as Danny Foster, the enthusiastic researcher who wants to stick to his beliefs and admirable code of conduct. However, he is quickly learning that in politics, things are rarely fair or honest and you can only get on if you are prepared to compromise your ideals.
We found we agreed with most of what Danny said, which means you become involved with the character and feel huge sympathy for him and what he is trying to achieve. In this respect, Danny is our hero, but a rather awkward one. I can definitely see what he has that attracted the Doctor Who team. If he brings this sort of enthusiasm and geeky cuteness to the role, he will be fantastic. He may not be traditionally good-looking, but he has a charm, warmth and winning smile which will work.
Shelley Conn is beautiful, as always. I enjoyed watching her in Mistresses and here too, she portrays a confident, sexy and successful woman. Although she has a ruthless streak to her as Ashika, she also has a humanity and sincerity to her, which makes her very likeable.
James Northcote is a much slimier character – a manipulative man who intends to get to the top in politics by any means necessary and in his personal life too, he expects to get his own way. Patrick Baladi is scarily convincing as an arrogant slimeball, who you just want to slap.
Raquel Cassidy has a much more sympathetic character, as Jo Porter has a harder time of it. Defending her corner politically is only half the problem, as her home life suffers and she faces major obstacles wherever she turns. She needs Danny more and more and their relationship gradually changes over the series.
Kirsty MacKenzie (Andrea Riseborough) is another character that goes on a journey, but I still didn’t like her by the end of it. She intends to get ahead in her career and is happy to step on any toes or sleep in any bed, if it gets her closer to her aim.
Pip Carter provides many of the lighter moments as the camp researcher Matt Baker, Ashika’s Gay Best Friend. He comers across as a lovable character and a true friend, but in his job, he can be just as ruthless as the next person.
All these personalities meet through their work and social lives and between them, they will wring every emotion from the viewer. This isn’t a big budget blockbuster with lots of special effects. It’s a clever, intelligent, thoughtful and thought-provoking BBC drama series and one you need to concentrate on. I loved it and felt it was well worth the effort.
It also provided all the reassurance I needed that Matt Smith will be amazing in his next big role.
DVD DETAILS
Party Animals is available from Amazon UK for £10.78. It was released in 2007, is a three-disc set and has a running time of 411 minutes. It is rated a 15 and contains drug use, sex scenes and swearing.
As well as all eight episodes of the series, it includes a Behind the Scenes documentary as well. This includes interviews with the cast and shows you how some of the scenes were filmed. It is always fascinating to me to see how things are created and to discover the inspiration behind the writing and ideas.
This documentary lasts around ten minutes.
You can find more information, photos and interviews at the official website here –
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