John Stonehouse

I thoroughly enjoyed it and was incredulous at the stupidity of the man .

Brilliant acting .

Callistemon21

Stone house's great-nephew said little of the dramatised version was strictly factual and it was, in fact, more fascinating in real life.

www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/jan/03/stonehouse-story-far-more-fascinating-than-tv-drama-suggests-relative-says

A good article in the Times to-day went over the facts one by one and they were mostly correct. What did not come out in the TV programme was that before he left he was self medicating with different pills which could have affected his mind . I also read to-day that the secretary's lisp was not as bad as it was in the programme.

Yes, I think the basic facts are correct, Floradora, just some smaller facts vary.

The real st in-house that was just on, was interesting as well

My autocorrect is at it again 🙈😂

I didn't realise that Matthew McFayden and Keeley Hawes are real life husband and wife. Thoroughly enjoyed it and yes it was so funny. He must have suffered a breakdown to do what he did. I almost fell sorry for him.

Yes, they have portrayed him as having a personality disorder, blaming everyone but himself. I'm not sure how true the portrayal is
I began to think we were back to Harry!.

I havent watched it all yet.
The drama protrayed him as a numpty, especially in regards to how he spied.
I suspect he wasnt such an idiot as he was protrayed. Though he only managed to disappear for 5 weeks.

I found myself thinking of Alan Partridge !

MawtheMerrier

I found myself thinking of Alan Partridge !

and his big plate?

if we are correct in the "diagnosis' then the "character structure" is a grandiose idea of self - and belief in ones own lies and fantasies combined with lack of ability to empathise/feel remorse about how others feel.
ie motivation is need to feel special, powerful, justified in actions.

I do think the man probably had a personality disorder he totally believed himself and that he was untouchable I also think these beliefs can go with power and you can look at
(mostly seems men) a lot of ‘leaders’ and see that same blinkered thinking
He was very inadequate and not actually clever at all the worst spy ever he really didn’t have a clue Amazing how the secretary fell for him knowing how corrupt he was, made her just as bad or worse.
He married her didn’t he? I wonder if he stayed faithful to her

The onscreen message at the end said that he always denied spying for Czechoslovakia.

BlueBelle

I do think the man probably had a personality disorder he totally believed himself and that he was untouchable I also think these beliefs can go with power and you can look at
(mostly seems men) a lot of ‘leaders’ and see that same blinkered thinking
He was very inadequate and not actually clever at all the worst spy ever he really didn’t have a clue Amazing how the secretary fell for him knowing how corrupt he was, made her just as bad or worse.
He married her didn’t he? I wonder if he stayed faithful to her

My guess us he did stay faithful to her. She gave him the unqualified adoration he wanted and his vulnerable side would be afraid of losing that input. Bits of the relationship we saw showed that she was just about the only person he let the guard down with.

Thoroughly enjoyed watching this - anything based on a true story is usually good. Great acting too!

As the decades unfold there are more and more cases of people with an idea of grandiose self worth. The pattern is always the same and perhaps one day we may recognise them first hand and not fall for their lies. Interesting concept. And, he was a very handsome and charming man from the film footage. Who in those days would not have been interested in his attentions?

A woman with a good sense of self worth? He had her in his thrall in the initial love-bombing stage but she could not see outside the box, believed his lies, and so on.

I enjoyed the series, it was good to see Matthew McFadden and Keeley Hawes in it together, they lived a couple of miles from my old town, we once saw them cross the road in front of us on to a traffic island hand in hand

I remember the story when it broke, more so because my ex thought Sheila Buckley was the most attractive woman to walk the face of the earth "how come?" I thought, "surely that's me"

The programmes and the documentary were fascinating as I was living in the Midlands at the time he was MP and his subsequent disappearance. He was charming, good looking and just a little too good to be true, definitely one who believed his own publicity and suffered from delusions of grandeur. As I recall his wife Barbara was not as sweet as portrayed by Keely Hawes, and Sheila Buckley was neither so innocent nor so gullible.
Harry is like him in respect of having lost touch with reality, but while Stonehouse was duplicitous he did not blame everyone else for his own inadequacies.

Wyllow3

BlueBelle

I do think the man probably had a personality disorder he totally believed himself and that he was untouchable I also think these beliefs can go with power and you can look at
(mostly seems men) a lot of ‘leaders’ and see that same blinkered thinking
He was very inadequate and not actually clever at all the worst spy ever he really didn’t have a clue Amazing how the secretary fell for him knowing how corrupt he was, made her just as bad or worse.
He married her didn’t he? I wonder if he stayed faithful to her

My guess us he did stay faithful to her. She gave him the unqualified adoration he wanted and his vulnerable side would be afraid of losing that input. Bits of the relationship we saw showed that she was just about the only person he let the guard down with.

He didn't live for very long after they married, about 7 years, and he had had heart problems well before he died of a heart attack.

Not a lot of oooomf to be lover to yet another woman then.

Well, I know someone who did manage it after quite drastic heart surgery (not anyone related to me, I hasten to add).

But I think he did 'settle down' with Sheila, who still lives quietly in England.

eazybee

The programmes and the documentary were fascinating as I was living in the Midlands at the time he was MP and his subsequent disappearance. He was charming, good looking and just a little too good to be true, definitely one who believed his own publicity and suffered from delusions of grandeur. As I recall his wife Barbara was not as sweet as portrayed by Keely Hawes, and Sheila Buckley was neither so innocent nor so gullible.
Harry is like him in respect of having lost touch with reality, but while Stonehouse was duplicitous he did not blame everyone else for his own inadequacies.

John Stonehouse was better looking than how he was portrayed by McFadden and Sheila Buckley was also a good looking woman and not so naive as portrayed either.
Still it was a good dramatisation and acting all round.I felt sorry for Stonehouse’s children.

I loved the scenes with Harold Wilson, he had some great lines.

Very enjoyable programme. Great acting. I hardly know what to think of him. Did he just blunder deeper and deeper into trouble? He certainly seemed to have a good opinion of himself.
His poor wife and family..