Docudramas and Public Intrusion: The Case of Peter Mandelson

Dirty Business, The Lady, Mandelson’s arrest – are they truth, ‘faction’ or just more drama? | Simon Jenkins

The latest rush of docudramas seems to suggest that anyone in the public eye must expect a degree of intrusion. But where does that end? Was that really Peter Mandelson getting into a police car on Monday? Was it really the same Mandelson who had supposedly been about to flee to the British Virgin Islands, the man called “a traitor” to his country and the buddy of a sex trafficker of girls? Was he really to be questioned for nine hours by the police over “misconduct in public office”, an offe...

By Simon Jenkins