The Rise of the Murdoch Dynasty
GenreDocumentary
Directed byJamie Roberts
Narrated byKate Fleetwood
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes3 (list of episodes)
Production
ProducerOwen Phillips
Production company72 Films
Original release
NetworkBBC Two

The Rise of the Murdoch Dynasty is a three-part documentary series broadcast on BBC Two in 2020. Parallels have been drawn between it and the American series Succession.[1] It is about the business magnate Rupert Murdoch and his political influence, the News International phone hacking scandal and his children's battles to succeed him.

Participants

The documentary has a cast that includes the British politicians Nigel Farage, Michael Heseltine, John Prescott and Tom Watson, the journalists Piers Morgan, Andrew Neil, Peter Oborne, Alan Rusbridger and David Yelland, the strategists Steve Bannon and Alastair Campbell, as well as Hugh Grant, Alan Sugar and former president of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) Max Mosley.[2][3][4]

Episodes

No. in
series		TitleDirected byOriginal air dateUK viewers
(millions)
1"Kingmaker"Jamie Roberts14 July 2020 (2020-07-14)N/A
2"The Rebel Alliance"Jamie Roberts21 July 2020 (2020-07-21)N/A
3"The Comeback"Jamie Roberts28 July 2020 (2020-07-28)N/A

Reception

In The Guardian, Tim Dowling opined that "While this political drama is no less gripping for being so familiar, it also feels strangely remote. On the one hand, it is hard to believe these events happened as long as a decade ago; on the other, it is difficult to recall the mood of a time when phone hacking was all we had to worry about".[5]

References

  1. ^ Singh, Anita (14 July 2020). "The Rise of the Murdoch Dynasty, review: enjoyably gossipy documentary indebted to Succession". The Telegraph. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
  2. ^ "The Rise Of The Murdoch Dynasty". BBC Media Centre. 14 July 2020. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
  3. ^ Sherwin, Adam (7 July 2020). "Rise of The Murdoch Dynasty: BBC series reveals real-life Succession battle over Rupert Murdoch's media empire". inews. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
  4. ^ McGurk, Stuart (14 July 2020). "The BBC's The Rise Of The Murdoch Dynasty says more about Nigel Farage than Rupert Murdoch". British GQ. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
  5. ^ Dowling, Tim (21 July 2020). "The Rise of the Murdoch Dynasty review – Succession with phone hacking and foam pies". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
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