The Making of the Member — Ray Burston

During the 1980s an unsung 'Black Country' town in the industrial West Midlands was a world removed from Britain's renowned 'corridors of power' at Westminster, corridors that were overshadowed throughout by the ascendancy of one of the most formidable and controversial prime ministers of modern times. Even so, this seeming backwater becomes the battleground for two ambitious young friends as they embark on a thirteen year quest to become its Member of Parliament - a contest that will rage instead through the 'corridors of power' of its local government and business community. Each young man hails from a different side of town; from a different side of the political divide. And just as surely each power-hungry young man - frequently beset by personal crises of his own - finds himself caught up in the passions and combats, the triumphs and disappointments, and the intrigues and scandals that will attend that quest. It is a quest that will prove to be the making of the Member.