Elizabeth Day says ruling class treats politics as a sandpit as The Party comes to ITV
Elizabeth Day discusses class and politics as her novel The Party is adapted into an ITV series, with a cameo and a Sunday night launch.
The Full Story
A plain summary built from the channels that reported this story.
Elizabeth Day's novel The Party has been adapted into a television series, and the author is using its launch to argue that Britain has not escaped class. The drama begins on Sunday night. It centres on an ostentatious birthday celebration and the downfall of a man who came from humble beginnings but worked his way into high society. Day is an executive producer and makes a cameo, a perk she asked about early. When she heard she could be executive producer, she said her first question was whether she could also be a supporting artist.
The series looks behind the curtain of an aristocratic world. Day said the almost impenetrable hierarchy in the story has similarities with real structures in Westminster. She argued that the UK likes to believe it is post-class, but that class signalling has become more insidious. She pointed to the country's ruling classes, meaning the men who have mostly been elected prime minister, and said most had attended a specific school, studied a specific degree at a specific elite university. She warned that they can treat politics as a game or a sandpit where they experiment and play.
The adaptation also gives Day a screen role alongside her work as host of the How to Fail podcast. She said she could not resist appearing in the party. The fictional story, she suggested, can still paint a plausible picture of life among the elite. The series begins on Sunday night.
On screen
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Key Claims
Claims reported during this story's coverage, grouped by how many channels reported each one. Select a dot to see the source excerpt.
| Claim |  |
|---|---|
| Only on one channel | |
| Elizabeth Day said the ruling classes risk treating politics as a game. | |
| ITV adapted Elizabeth Day's novel The Party into a series, with the first episode scheduled for Sunday night. | |
| The plot centres on an extravagant birthday party and the downfall of a man who rose from humble beginnings into high society. | |
Channel Perspectives
What each channel focused on, with key quotes.
ITV1's News at Ten segment treated the adaptation as a platform for Elizabeth Day's critique of class and politics. It linked the novel's fictional elite to Westminster and highlighted her claim that Britain is not post-class. It also added a lighter showbusiness note about her executive producer credit and cameo, with no counterpoint to her political claims.
- “There's a danger that they treat politics as a game, as a sandpit where they can experiment and play.”
- “Often we like to believe in the UK that we're post-class. I think all that's happened is that its signalling has become more insidious.”
- “I was like, that's fantastic, have at it, but can I be a supporting artist?”
Broadcast Timeline
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