The story of John Stonehouse is something that sounds like fiction, yet it really happened. The new three-part series “Stonehouse” streaming on BritBox brings the unbelievable life of this man to the screen, with Matthew Macfadyen in the title role.

John Stonehouse was a British Labour Party politician and a cabinet minister in the regime of Harold Wilson. What this man did was really unbelievable, yet he did it. He had a bright future ahead of him in the government and was even thought of for Prime Minister after Wilson’s term ended, but he threw it all away.

This man had not morals or scruples. As alleged in the show, he became a spy for the communists partly to save his public reputation but mostly for money. Once the money started rolling in, he flaunted his wealth, to the chagrin of his wife Barbara (Keeley Hawes). But the family thrived under the newfound wealth, which no one knew how he came into. Nevertheless, the children attended a posh school and money was no object.

In 1974, things began to unravel. Not being able to dig himself out of the giant hole he had created for his life, Stonehouse faked his own death, without any thought to what his death would mean for his family. In debt up to his eyeballs and with his political future all but gone, he vanished.

Stonehouse was sly in how he went about leaving the country and deceiving the world. He managed to make his way to Australia. It was his own stupidity and carelessness that led to his secret being discovered.

This show brings in historical figures including Margaret Thatcher and Wilson. It makes Wilson out to be a ruthless politician (is that an oxymoron?) and shows the strange mental state of Stonehouse.

After the discovery of his rouse, Stonehouse was returned to London. He went on trial and was found guilty of several offenses.

The question viewers must decide for themselves is whether Stonehouse was simply mentally ill, or was he a sly, ruthless, conniving man? There is a case to be made for both arguments.

There have been many shows and documentaries about this man and his escapades. It is a strange story yet it happened. And in this three-part series, viewers once again get to delve into the weird world of John Stonehouse.

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