He explained: “I’ve always been intrigued about what on earth goes on in that ridiculous little toy-town street that runs Britain. So [Number 10] is not really about politics at all, though everyone’s going to think it is.
“It’s just about what it’s like being in there, with the two most powerful people in the country in the attic, the worst coffee shop you’ve ever seen in the basement, and basically a knock-through with mice and a nuclear deterrent. It’s just the most remarkable address I can think of.”
“There’s quite a lot of comedy – it’s a funny place,” he teased. “I wanted to write an ensemble comedy like I did many years ago [in] Press Gang, and you need a workplace for that. Well, that’s the ultimate workplace. If you get a hangover there, you can start a war.”
While he’s not quite ready to share who’s taking on the role of his Prime Minister, he pointed out that you’ll never know which party is in power in the series, adding: “I’m not really interested in any of that. I don’t think they are either!
“There’s very little politics in real politics – every five years there’s an outbreak of politics called the General Election. The rest of the time, they’re just trying to run a country!
“I’ve read a ton. I’ve met a lot of people, including quite well-known people – I can never give their names away – and I’ve heard lots of stories, but it’s really just about the ultimate Upstairs Downstairs, where upstairs runs the country and downstairs sells Twixes. And I’ve been there a few times.”
While Moffat wrote the pilot just a year ago, describing it as a fairly quick process, he added: “I’ve been thinking about it for years.
“I’ve been reading the books, not because I’m a big expert on politics, I really am not. I’m just more interested in what the hell it’s like when you become Prime Minister.
“One thing it does to all of them is ages them 15 years in about a year. So for all that we’re cynical about it, and derisory about it, all the cynics and the deriders don’t work as hard as the person they’re deriding.”
Number 10, which is set to air on Channel 4, was announced earlier this month, with the synopsis stating: “The government will be fictional, but the problems will be real. We’ll never know which party is in power, because once the whole world hits the fan it barely matters.
“This is a show about the building and everyone inside. Not just the prime minister upstairs, but the conspiracy theorist who runs the cafe three floors below, the man who repairs the lift that never works, the madly ambitious ‘advisors’ fighting for office space in cupboards. Oh, and of course, the cat.”
Number 10 will air on Channel 4.
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