Absolute Power (radio): Difference between revisions

 

{{quote|'''Alison''': Surely one agency can’t possibly represent two people going for the same job. There must be rules about this sort of thing. Like, I don’t know, estate agents not acting for buyer and seller.

'''Charles''': Not only can you represent the buyer and the seller, but you can steal all the light bulbs, pee in the sink and then go and live in the house after they’ve bought it. PR means never having to say you’re wrong. }}

 

** The radio series proper ends on a cozy note. Charles has finally been given his chance in America, working on the Bush reelection campaign, while Martin stews in London. But they're reunited in the end:

{{quote|'''Charles''': The Downing Street retainer?

'''Martin''': Ah... ''ah''.

'''Charles''': The flurry of 'We want Gordon' press stories. They wouldn't have anything to do with you, would they? Only -- and I mean this in the nicest possible way -- you do, on occasion, go peculiar. I'm not impugning your sanity, stability, or taste in trousers, but you do, once in a while, go peculiar.

'''Martin''': I'm not denying it.

'''Charles''': They were you, weren't they?

'''Martin''': To some extent.

'''Charles''': And the Downing Street retainer?

'''Martin''': Is not actually being retained at the moment. Or ever again, in fact.

'''Charles''': Martin, ''why''?

'''Martin''': Because! ... I don't know quite how to say this without being sick, but I thought if I went just a ''bit'' peculiar, Archie might, ''might'' feel impelled to call you back. }}

* [[Glad I Thought of It]]: Martin's ideas usually become Charles' ideas by the time the client hears them.

** Charles has also demonstrated a tendency toward this in ''Latin''.

{{quote|'''BBC 3 Director:''' Et tu, Brutus?

'''Charles:''' Brute! Brut'''e'''! It's vocative, for God's sake. }}

*** And he's quite merciless about Archie's poor French pronunciation. ("Try that accent in Paris, and you'll find whole new vistas of loneliness opening up...")

* [[Pungeon Master|Pungeon Masters]]: Charles and Martin's speech is liberally peppered with puns.

{{quote|'''Charles:''' Martin, do I detect a soupçon of ennui?

'''Martin:''' A whole bowlful. }}

* [[Refuge in Audacity]]: "Crash and Burn"

* [[Waxing Lyrical]]: Frequently, usually cited as "a quotation from the classics."

{{quote|'''Charles:''' I didn't take you to dinner in Islington and say 'Look here, I ought to be the senior partner, but I'll buy you a squid ink risotto.'

'''Martin:''' No no no, it was more a case of '[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v{{=}}FeISAc9j0WE let's get together the two of us, over a glass of champagne]'.

'''Charles:''' Your command of popular culture always has done you credit.

'''Martin:''' '[[Pet Shop Boys|I've got the looks, you've got the brains, let's make lots of money.]]' }}

* [[Wicked Cultured]]: The nearly-villainous Charles Prentiss.

{{quote|'''Cat''' (on lending Charles her flat): There's a corner shop to the right, and a great kebab place next door. There's also a good bus route into town...

'''Charles''': We've all died and gone to our own particular hell. }}

* [[Woman Scorned]]: Gayle in the radio version, who's determined to see Prentiss McCabe fail because of her former relationship with Charles. (He left her when she told him she was married.)