Saturday, 3 April 2010

The Secret Treasury The Great Offices of State

WATCH:

(1 - 3 of 3 programmes)

  1. The Secret Treasury

    MORE:
    programme information

    (60 minutes)

    Available since today with 7 days left.

    3/3. Michael Cockerell uses archive film and interviews to uncover the world of the Treasury.

currently available on these devices: Selected wi-fi/3G enabled mobile phones. Read more about where to get BBC iPlayer.

Last broadcast today, 19:45 on BBC Two (England, Northern Ireland only)(see all broadcasts).

NEXT ON:

Today, 20:15 on BBC Two (Scotland only)

SYNOPSIS

Three-part series in which award-winning reporter Michael Cockerell uncovers the secret world of Whitehall, showing what the trio of great offices - Home, Foreign and Treasury - are really like.

The Treasury is the oldest and most secretive of the three. Cockerell's film recounts the many battles Chancellors have fought over the years with their top officials and it shows how often the Treasury has been locked in conflict with Number 10.

He blends fresh filming with rare and unseen archive, and features candid interviews with the current Chancellor Alastair Darling, many of his predecessors and their normally camera-shy mandarins.

The programme shows how Treasury officials see themselves as the Whitehall elite, brighter and quicker than other civil servants, whereas critics claim they are congenitally cautious and nerdy. Successive prime ministers have sought to combat what they call 'the dead hand of the Treasury', but a senior mandarin claims that over the years the Treasury has discovered a hundred different ways of saying no.

CREDITS

Presenter
Michael Cockerell
Reporter
Michael Cockerell
Director
James Giles
Producer
Michael Cockerell
Executive Producer
Martin Wilson

BROADCASTS

  1. Thu 25 Feb 2010
    21:00
  2. Thu 25 Feb 2010
    23:30
  3. Fri 26 Feb 2010
    03:30
  4. Sun 28 Feb 2010
    19:00
  5. Sat 3 Apr 2010
    19:45
  6. Sat 3 Apr 2010
    20:15
  7. Tue 6 Apr 2010
    03:25
  8. Wed 14 Apr 2010
    23:20