In the Red is a 1998 three-part BBC Miniseries based on the novel of the same name by Mark Tavener. It's a Black Comedy whodunnit which follows three parallel plot lines: BBC crime reporter George Cragge (Warren Clarke) receiving correspondence from a Serial Killer who is exclusively targeting bank managers; minor party leader Geoffrey Crichton Potter (Richard Griffiths), who suddenly finds himself riding strong political headwinds in the midst of the murders; and the backstabbing Controller of Radio 2 (Stephen Fry), who is plotting to depose the corporation's Director-General and take the job for himself.
The miniseries is probably best known as the work from which the spin-off Absolute Power (BBC) came to be, following Fry and John Bird's characters, Charles Prentiss and Martin McCabe, as they navigate the PR industry. It is also unique for the way it makes the BBC itself the target of its satire, in a way that doesn't so much bite the hand as take a big chunk out of it, with the plot heavily centering around zany dysfunction within all levels of the Beeb.
In the Red provides examples of the following tropes:
- Adipose Rex: Geoffrey Crichton Potter, leader of the Reform Party, is played by Richard Griffiths.
- And There Was Much Rejoicing: News of Jim Wilkes's departure is met with loud cheers at Television Centre.
- Car Meets House: Broadcasting House, that is.
- Cloud Cuckoolander: Jemma White, the Radio 4 newsreader, who smokes marijuana in the studio and basically comes across as a loopy woman when she's not actually on the air.
- Dysfunction Junction: At the BBC we have: George Cragge, an unethical, unprofessional, alcoholic pain-in-the-arse; his producer, Beth Parsons, who hates his guts; Jemma White, the Cloud Cuckoolander Radio 4 newsreader; Hercules Fortescue, the increasingly off-kilter personnel officer; the Controller of Radio 2, who is plotting to backstab the Director-General and take his job; and the Director-General himself, Jim Wilkes, whose mismanagement of the corporation has put BBC One's ratings into fourth place and is dumb enough to let the Radio 2 Controller talk him into the Oh Jesus! fiasco. Your licence fees at work, everybody!
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Despite having previously been fired from the BBC for his performance at Andrew James's trial, Cragge saves a group of establishment figures (which includes the head of the BBC's Board of Governors) from being killed by Dominic De'Ath's bomb. As a reward, Cragge is appointed as the BBC's new Director-General over Prentiss, who Cragge fires once he learns about how Prentiss engineered Jim Wilkes' ouster.
- Failure Gambit: Prentiss' plan is to trick the Director-General into cancelling Songs of Praise and replacing it with a religious satire programme so ridiculously offensive that the resulting furore will force him to resign. It works, though the end result isn't what Prentiss planned.
- Genius Ditz: Jemma White flips from stoned Cloud Cuckoolander to utterly professional newsreader the second her microphone goes live.
- Hollywood Law: Even though Andrew James wasn't the Serial Killer, his antics did nearly get multiple people hurt or killed at one point (the van incident) and he waited until the middle of his murder trial to reveal that his entire involvement in the case has been one big publicity stunt. In Real Life, James wouldn't have been able to resume his music career as if nothing had happened; he would have most likely been prosecuted for, at the very least, perverting the course of justice for diverting the prosecution's resources from more pressing, legitimate cases.
- Humiliation Conga: Hercules Fortescue. First he has to contend with George Cragge, who doesn't give a toss about his authority as personnel officer. Then he finds himself being coaxed into the role of producer (a job he has no idea how to perform) for a programme that is designed to fail.
- Jerkass: George Cragge couldn't care less about journalistic ethics and protocol, and treats his superiors (like Beth and Fortescue) as either annoyances or obstacles to his career.
- Kent Brockman News: Both played straight and subverted. Cragge doesn't bother to appear in the studio in time for his live reports and is always butting heads with Beth, but Jemma always behaves professionally when she's on the air despite being a veritable Cloud Cuckoolander the rest of the time.
- Meaningful Name: Rik Mayall plays Dominic De'Ath. He turns out to be the killer.
- Doubles as an Actor Allusion, since "Dominic De'Ath" is the same type of verbal pun as "Alan B'Stard".
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Richard Griffiths's character, the leader of an independent third party who embodies the Adipose Rex trope, is clearly modelled on prominent Liberal MPnote Cyril Smith. (Tavener had formerly worked for the Liberal Party during Smith's heyday.)
- No Name Given: The Controllers of Radio 2 and Radio 4, though their names are later revealed in Absolute Power (BBC).
- Overly Literal Transcription: Potter's put-upon assistant is in the middle of dictating an important speech into a voice recorder when he's ambushed and seduced by his love interest. When the recording is transcribed, it includes everything she said as well as his actual dictation. Potter is so used to saying whatever's put in front of him without engaging his brain that he just rolls with it — and it comes out as a metaphorical appeal to the electorate to take a chance on him, and significantly improves his public image.
- Red Herring: Andrew James is not actually the Serial Killer, he's just a rock musician who is taking advantage of the media circus to promote his music. It's actually Rik Mayall's character, Dominic De'Ath.
- Serial Killings, Specific Target: The serial killer targeting bank managers turns out to have a specific motive for the death of one particular bank manager, and all his other killings are just to disguise that connection.
