Films, TV, radio and books on PR

Posted by: Tom Watson on: August 7, 2008

In: History of Public Relations | Public Relations
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Recently, I asked PR educator colleagues in the UK for help in developing a list of films, television and radio programmes/series and books that either featured public relations as a core issue or referred to it in a passing way. They responded enthusiastically with suggestions that went back into the 1950s and forward to the present including films on current release and a soap opera set in a real PR consultancy in Manchester, UK. Here’s the list we can up with – Can you add to it so that we have a world-wide resource on the visual and fictional presentation of PR:

Films:

Wag the Dog

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120885/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wag_the_Dog

Thank you for Smoking

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0427944/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thank_You_for_Smoking

America’s Sweethearts

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0265029/

The Sweet Smell of Success

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_Smell_of_Success

The Devil wears Prada

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Devil_Wears_Prada_(film)

The Control Room

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Control_Room_(film)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0391024/

Hancock (Alcoholic superhero cuckolds his PR man)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0448157/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hancock_(film)

The China Syndrome

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078966/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Syndrome

Sliding Doors – key character works in PR

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sliding_Doors

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120148/

Bridget Jones’s Diary

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridget_Jones’s_Diary

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0243155/

Documentaries and polemics:

Roger and Me

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098213/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_&_Me

Century of the Self

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/features/century_of_the_self.shtml

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Century_of_the_Self

The War Room

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_Room

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0413845/

The Corporation

http://www.thecorporation.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Corporation

Television:

Absolutely Fabulous

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolutely_Fabulous

http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/abfab/

Absolute Power

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolute_Power_(comedy)

The Thick of It

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thick_of_It

Some Mothers do Have’Em

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Some_Mothers_Do_’Ave_’Em – Series two, episode three – the public relations course.

Party Animals

http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/partyanimals/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party_Animals_(TV_series)

The West Wing

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0200276/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_West_Wing

Spitting Image

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086807/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spitting_Image

Spinning Jenny – A new twist to PR film / TV with an interactive internet-based soap opera set in Manchester’s Brazen PR and made by online entertainment service Manchester-live.tv

http://www.manchester-live.tv/spinningjenny.html

http://www.youtube.com/spinningjennytv

Books:

Novels by David Michie – Conflict of Interest, Pure Deception, Expiry Date

http://www.davidmichie.com/index.php

http://www.twbooks.co.uk/authors/davidmichie.html

Alistair Campbell (2007) The Blair Years

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/system/topicRoot/Alastair_Campbell_diaries/

Radio:

Absolute Power

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/comedy/absolute.shtml

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0386149/