Double trouble

Conleth Hill plays a failing businessman and cheating husband heading for disaster in a 1990s-set comedy

- IAN MACEWAN, STEVEN PERKINS.

WORDS:  PHOTOS: BBC, C4, HULU

NEW COMEDY

The Power of Parker Friday, 9.30pm, BBC1 (box set, BBC iPlayer)

It’s 1990 and Stockport-based businessman Martin Parker seems to have it all: a chain of electrical shops, a beautiful wife, a luxurious home – and a mistress he’s been keeping on the side for decades.

But in BBC1’s new comedy The Power of Parker, scripted by Car Share co-writers Paul Coleman and Sian Gibson, Martin’s reign is coming to an abrupt end. His businesses are struggling, he’s drowning in debt and he realises he can no longer afford the flat where his girlfriend lives.

‘His complicated love life is beginning to catch up with him,’ explains Game of Thrones star Conleth Hill, who plays Martin. ‘He’s been doing it for 25 years, which I find amazing, but I think that’s part of his uncoiling – suddenly it’s all coming to a big barricade in the road caused by his dodgy dealings. He has to make decisions he wouldn’t have had to make had he not been in financial trouble – it probably could have gone on for a few more years!’