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Anger brews over HBO and Channel 4's Brexit drama with Benedict Cumberbatch

Benedict Cumberbatch in Brexit: The Uncivil War (Credit: HBO/C4)
Benedict Cumberbatch in Brexit: The Uncivil War (Credit: HBO/C4)

Anger is brewing following the first look at Benedict Cumberbatch in the forthcoming HBO and Channel 4 movie about Brexit.

Black Mirror director Toby Haynes has helmed the drama, which finds Cumberbatch playing Vote Leave campaign director and political strategist Dominic Cummings.

Cummings came under heavy criticism after he refused to appear in front of a Parliamentary inquiry into the use of fake news in the Vote Leave campaign.

It also stars Rory Kinnear as David Cameron’s former director of communications Craig Oliver, John Heffernan as Vote Leave strategist Matthew Elliott, Richard Goulding as Boris Johnson and Paul Ryan as Nigel Farage.

But the production has been blasted by some of the strongest voices in the Brexit debate.

Among them is journalist Carole Cadwalladr, who has broken numerous stories about the Brexit campaign’s links to the now shuttered data and political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica, which is under investigation for its role in the misuse of data on platforms like Facebook.

Cadwalladr tweeted: “F**k off @HBO. Imagine if we did this for Trump right now. You are literally interfering in our criminal justice system.

“You’re heroicising a man in contempt of parliament. We don’t know the facts still. Because he refuses to tell parliament. But this character with the ‘software’ is bullshit. The ‘physicists’ are still unknown. The work was not declared. Electoral commission refused to investigate.”

Others have also chimed in.

In a statement, Channel 4 said: “Brexit: The Uncivil War is a drama based on extensive and in-depth factual research from a myriad of sources and is an accurate, duly impartial and fair examination of the events of the time and of the people involved.

“The biggest political moment of recent British history, Brexit is legitimate territory for a Channel 4 drama to explore and, as our remit calls for, we expect this film to stimulate debate and discussion.”

The drama will air on Channel 4 in January.

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