The portrayals of fictional prime ministers of the United Kingdom have been either completely fictional figures, or composite figures based on real-life people, or real-life figures who have never been prime minister other than in fiction.
List of fictional prime ministers
Named prime ministers
Real people on this list are marked:
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Work
! Prime minister
! Medium
! Year(s)
! Actor
! Notes
! References
|-
| 24: Live Another Day
| Alastair Davies
| Television
| 2014
| Stephen Fry
| Composite of David Cameron and Boris Johnson
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| Lady Cairo
| N/A
| Imperial prime minister of a federated British Empire, succeeding Mrs Hardinge.
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|Back in the USSA
|Enoch Powell
|Novel
|1997
|N/A
|Said to have succeeded Anthony Eden. He serves as PM from at least 1964 (teddy Bear's Picnic) until at least 1972 (Abdication Street).
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| Black Doves
| Richard Eaves
| Television
| 2024
| Adeel Akhtar
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| Black Mirror
| Michael Callow
| Television
| 2011
| Rory Kinnear
| Episode: "The National Anthem".
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| Roger ap Gwilliam
| 2024
| Aneurin Barnard
| Episode: "73 Yards". Elected in 2046 as the head of the nationalist Albion Party. Oversaw the UK's withdrawal from NATO and becoming an independent nuclear power after negotiating with Pakistan to purchase its entire nuclear arsenal. Later, his ministry oversaw the implementation of compulsory DNA testing and collation into a National Database. After an interdimensional intervention, he is succeeded as prime minister by his more liberal deputy Iris Cabriola.
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| rowspan="2" | Dominion
| Lord Halifax
| rowspan="2" | Novel
| rowspan="2" | 2012
| N/A
| Lord Halifax succeeds Neville Chamberlain in May 1940 instead of Winston Churchill, and it is under Halifax's premiership that Britain agrees to an armistice with Nazi Germany that leads to Britain becoming a Nazi satellite state.
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| Lord Beaverbrook
| N/A
| As a result of Britain entering into an armistice with Germany in 1940, Lord Beaverbrook served as prime minister in 1952, heading a collaborationist puppet government that came to power following a possibly fraudulent general election in 1950. His newspapers form part of the propaganda machine of this government.
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| Doomsday
| John Hatcher
| Film
| 2008
| Alexander Siddig
| After being ravaged by the Reaper virus, Scotland is isolated from the rest of Britain by a 30ft wall in 2008. When cases of Reaper virus are diagnosed in London in 2035, Hatcher assembles a medical team to discover a possible vaccination after satellite imagery detects survivors on the other side of the wall. As the Reaper epidemic grows Hatcher plans to evacuate the city, but is infected during a botched assassination attempt and later ousted by conniving adviser Michael Canaris (David O'Hara). Hatcher eventually commits suicide rather than dying of the virus.
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| rowspan="2"| Endymion
| Sidney Wilton
| rowspan="2" | Novel
| rowspan="2" | 1880
| N/A
| A prominent Whig Cabinet member who employs Endymion Ferrars as a favour to the latter's sister; eventually becomes Prime Minister when the Whigs are voted in, and later resigns in Ferrars' favour.
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| Endymion Ferrars
| N/A
| A clerk at Somerset House and son of a failed Tory politician, Ferrars rises through the Whig party to be Secretary of State and succeeds Sidney Wilton as Prime Minister after Wilton's resignation.
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| rowspan="3" | First Among Equals
| Lord Broadstairs
| rowspan="3" | Novel
| rowspan="3" | 1984
| N/A
| The unidentified prime minister who led Labour to a narrow general election victory in 1989 following a short-lived, ineffective Conservative minority government during Margaret Thatcher's third tenure as prime minister. Due to drastic cardiac surgery, he was forced to stand down as Labour leader in 1991 in favour of his deputy and chancellor of the exchequer, Raymond Gould; however, he continued to serve as prime minister until that year's general election. His departure from office coincided with the abdication of Elizabeth II. Lord Broadstairs is his post-prime-ministerial title.
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| Raymond Gould
| N/A
| In the UK edition of the novel, following the extremely close 1991 general election, Charles III informs Conservative leader Simon Kerslake that he intends to make Labour leader Raymond Gould his first prime minister. Gould had to enter into a coalition agreement with the SDP, which included holding a referendum on proportional representation.
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| Simon Kerslake
| N/A
| In the US edition of the novel, following the extremely close 1991 general election, Charles III informs Labour leader Raymond Gould that he intends to make Conservative leader Simon Kerslake his first prime minister. Kerslake's character is likely analogous with the novel's author, Jeffrey Archer.
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| Gloriana, or the Revolution of 1900
| Hector d'Estrange
| Novel
| 1890
| N/A
| Character is a pseudonym of Gloria De Lara
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|-
| Heads of State
| Samuel Clarke
| Film
| 2025
| Idris Elba
| First Black British prime minister in his sixth year of premiership. A working-class graduate of Cambridge University and veteran of the British Army, he survives an assassination attempt alongside US president John Derringer as a part of a conspiracy organised by vice-president Elizabeth Kirk and Russian arms dealer Viktor Gradov to destabilise NATO.
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| Henry IX
| Gwen Oxlade
| Television
| 2017
| Pippa Haywood
| The incumbent prime minister when King Henry IX announces his intention to abdicate in coincidence with his Silver Jubilee.
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| rowspan=2 | Hostage
| Abigail Dalton
| rowspan=2 | Television
| rowspan=2 | 2025
| Suranne Jones
| Formerly a junior minister in the Foreign Office, Dalton's premiership is marred by military spending cuts and a lack of vital NHS drugs, leading to negotiations with France for a consignment of medication. At the Foreign Office, Dalton had ordered the withdrawal British troops during a Guatemalan invasion of Belize that resulted in civilian deaths. A group of still-resentful former soldiers kidnap her husband during his work with Doctors Without Borders and try forcing her resignation in exchange for his release, before organizing acts of terrorism and orchestrating a mass assault of the Home Secretary when she refuses. Dalton arranges her husband's rescue with French president Vivienne Toussant (Julie Delpy); after French military save him, the soldiers retaliate by murdering Dalton's father and placing a bomb in 10 Downing Street. A vote of no-confidence is passed on Dalton, believing she has become sidetracked. When the terrorists further target Dalton's family, she exposes the MoD general responsible, after which the motion of no-confidence is voided and she calls for a general election.
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| Dan Ogilvy
| Pip Carter
| Formerly the Defense Secretary, Ogilvy was appointed as interim prime minister by the Cabinet following a successful vote of no-confidence against Abigail Dalton. He responds to the bombing of 10 Downing Street by declaring a state of emergency, although he stands down in favour of Dalton after the MoD general behind the terrorist attacks is exposed and the vote if no-confidence is voided.
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| House of Cards
| Henry "Hal" Collingridge
| Television
| 1990
| David Lyon
| Succeeding Margaret Thatcher as Conservative leader and prime minister, Collingridge leads his party to victory at the next general election albeit with a reduced majority. Citing the 'Night of the Long Knives' as precedent, Collingridge decides not to reshuffle his Cabinet. Being passed over for a promotion to the Home Office as a result, Government Chief Whip Francis Urquhart plots to replace him as prime minister out of revenge by fabricating a scandal involving Collridge's alcoholic brother and insider trading. In an ironic twist, Collingridge offers to support Urquhart's leadership bid.
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| King Charles III
| Tristan Evans
| Film
| 2017
| Adam James
| A constitutional crisis ensues over the King's refusal to grant royal assent to a statutory press regulation bill which could allow the government to censor the news and prevent the uncovering of genuine abuses of power.
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| rowspan="2" | Little Britain
| Michael Stevens
| rowspan="2" | Television
| 2003
| Anthony Head
| Based on Tony Blair, he is the object of aide Sebastian Love's affection.
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| No Love for Johnnie
| rowspan="2" | Reginald Stevens
| Novel
| 1959
| N/A
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| Passport to Pimlico
| Arthur Pemberton
| Film
| 1949
| Stanley Holloway
| Originally a shopkeeper in Miramont Gardens, Pimlico. After it is discovered that his neighbourhood is still technically part of the defunct Duchy of Burgundy, he is appointed prime minister after a descendent of the last known duke asserts his claim and forms a privy council, with its meetings taking place in his shop. Forced to contend with strained British-Burgundian relations, owing to Burgundy becoming a safe haven for black marketeers, he ceases to be prime minister once the micro-nation is reunited with Britain.
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| rowspan="2" | Phineas Redux
| Mr Daubney
| rowspan="2" | Novel
| rowspan="2" | 1873
| N/A
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| Mr Gresham
| N/A
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| rowspan="2" | Roadkill
| Dawn Ellison
| rowspan="2" | Television
| rowspan="2" | 2020
| Helen McCrory
| Predecessor to Peter Laurence, whose resignation cleared the way for Laurence to take over.
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| Peter Laurence
| Hugh Laurie
| Previously the transport secretary and the justice secretary. Laurence was embroiled in numerous scandals, including two extramarital affairs, a love child, his daughter Susan being photographed taking cocaine, culpability in the deaths of several tenants in properties that he owned, and often contradicted government policy publicly. He was being investigated by journalist Charmian Pepper for his involvement with an American think tank seeking to privatise the NHS; this came to a halt following Pepper's death during a suspicious traffic collision. Laurence's premiership was jeopardised immediately, after his wife Helen refused to liquidate a shell company opened under her name.
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| rowspan="2" | Secret State
| Charles Flyte
| rowspan="2" | Television
| rowspan="2" | 2012
| Tobias Menzies
| The British prime minister, who dies in a suspicious plane crash while returning from the United States.
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| Tom Dawkins
| Gabriel Byrne
| Formerly the deputy prime minister to Charles Flyte, he succeeded Flyte after the latter's death. After discovering a plot to engineer a war against Iran, he calls a vote of no confidence against his own government.
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| Settling Accounts: In at the Death
| Horace Wilson
| Novel
| 2007
| N/A
| In an alternate timeline in which the Confederate States won the War of Secession over the United States, the Second Great War (1941–1944) in Europe witnesses the destruction of London, Norwich and Brighton (alongside Paris and Petrograd) by German superbombs. After the ousting of Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Chancellor of the Exchequer Oswald Mosley, Horace Wilson was installed as a caretaker prime minister tasked with negotiating peace with the victorious Central Powers.
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| Seven Days to Noon
| Arthur Lytton
| Film
| 1950
| Ronald Adam
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| The Afrika Reich
| Lord Halifax
| Novel
| 2011
| N/A
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| The Amazing Mrs Pritchard
| Rosamund Pritchard
| Television
| 2006
| Jane Horrocks
| Originally a supermarket manager from Eatanswill, Yorkshire, Pritchard stands as an independent candidate out of anger and forms the Purple Alliance, a third-way party whose members are predominantly female. Her policies including moving Parliament to Bradford, banning car usage on "Green Wednesday" (which she decided upon spontaneously), and promising to subject EU legislation to greater parliamentary scrutiny after a Lithuanian plane crashes over Walthamstow.
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| rowspan="2" | The Final Cut
| Francis Urquhart
| rowspan="2" | Novel
| rowspan="2" | 1995
| N/A
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| Maxwell Stanbrook
| N/A
| Formerly the Environment Secretary, tasked with prohibiting the erection of a statue in honour of Margaret Thatcher, Stanbrook succeeded Francis Urquhart following his (elective) assassination and went on to win a landslide majority in Parliament due to public sympathy. Stanbrook was Jewish and of dubious parentage.
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| rowspan="2" | The Final Cut
| Francis Urquhart
| rowspan="2" | Television
| rowspan="2" | 1995
| Ian Richardson
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| The Leader
| Oswald Mosley
| Novel
| 2003
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| The Madagaskar Plan
| Lord Halifax
| Novel
| 2015
| N/A
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| The New Statesman
| Alan B'Stard
| Television
| 1992
|
| In the final episode "The Irresistible Rise of Alan B'Stard", a special general election is called over British membership of the European Economic Community. Alan B'Stard, as leader of the Eurosceptic New Patriotic Party, became an extra-parliamentary prime minister, having not contested a seat and having threatened to use his party's mandate to become a dictatorial Lord Protector (after his deputy leader Paddy O'Rourke suggested that he rather than B'Stard would become prime minister as a result).
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| The Queen and I
| rowspan="2" | Jack Barker
| Novel
| 1992
| N/A
| rowspan="2" | The leader of the People's Republican Party, Barker won the 1992 election through subliminal messaging organised by the television technicians' union. He immediately abolishes the monarchy and forces the Royal Family to live on a council estate. However, due to fulfilling expensive campaign promises Barker announced that Britain was to become part of Japan (with himself as Governor General) in exchange for the suspension of debt repayments, with Prince Edward having to marry the Emperor's daughter as part of the agreement. At the conclusion, the story is revealed to have been a nightmare, with the Conservatives under John Major winning re-election (as in real-life).
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| The Queen and I
| Television
| 2018
| David Walliams
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| The Return of Sherlock Holmes
| Lord Bellinger
| Television
| 1986
| Harry Andrews
| Episode: "The Second Stain"
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| rowspan="2" | The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer
| Michael Rimmer
| rowspan="2" | Film
| rowspan="2" | 1970
| Peter Cook
| Based on David Frost. Formerly a pollster and Conservative Party advisor, Rimmer became prime minister after murdering his predecessor, Tom Hutchinson. Rimmer gained dictatorial powers in a referendum after generating extreme levels of voter apathy by requiring the electorate to engage in constant postal voting and televoting on trivial or complex matters.
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| rowspan="2" | The Thick of It
| Tom Davis
| rowspan="2" | Television
| 2007–2009
| N/A
| Formerly the Transport Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer, he became prime minister after his predecessor's legacy programme is leaked. He would go on to lose the 2010 general election following rumours that he is mentally unwell and dependent on antidepressants. A parody of Gordon Brown, Davis is unseen throughout the series.
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| JB
| 2012
| N/A
| The young, inexperienced prime minister of a Coalition government that took power following Tom Davis' loss of the 2010 general election and instigated austerity measures. His youth and determination to modernise the party irritate some of its longer-standing members, who looks down on JB and his "Eton clique". A parody of David Cameron, JB - like Tom Davis before him - is unseen in the series.
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| The Third World War: The Untold Story
| Mrs Plumber
| Novel
| 1978
| N/A
| Based on Margaret Thatcher.
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| The War That Came Early
| Horace Wilson
| Novel series
| 2009–2014
| N/A
| In an alternate timeline in which the Second World War began in 1938 due to the assassination of Konrad Henlein by a Czech nationalist, Horace Wilson succeeded Neville Chamberlain as prime minister in 1940 (Winston Churchill having been killed by a drink-driver). As a result of his increasingly anti-democratic leadership, a relatively bloodless military coup occurred in 1941 resulting in Wilson and his Cabinet being placed in preventative detention and replaced by a military junta which respected civil liberties and voices of dissent out of expediency.
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| The West Wing
| Maureen Graty
| Television
| 2005
| Pamela Salem
| Maureen Graty is the prime minister of the United Kingdom in 2005–2006. She deploys UK troops towards President Josiah Bartlet's Middle East peacekeeping plan in 2005 under the command of British General Whitehead.
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| rowspan="2" | To Play the King
| rowspan="2" | Francis Urquhart
| Novel
| rowspan="2" | 1993
| N/A
| rowspan="2" | After the newly crowned king criticises many of Urquhart's policies and establishes himself as an unofficial Leader of the Opposition, Urquhart wins a majority in a snap general election, thus forcing the king to abdicate in favour of his son.
|rowspan="2" |
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| Television
| Ian Richardson
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| Torchwood: Children of Earth
| Brian Green
| Television
| 2009
| Nicholas Farrell
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| Yes Minister
| Herbert Attwell
| Television
| 1980–1984
| N/A
| The unnamed and unseen prime minister throughout the original series, he is mentioned by name only in companion books for the series (his name being a portmanteau of three real prime ministers: Herbert H. Asquith, Clement Attlee and Arthur Wellesley). Attwell appointed Jim Hacker as minister for administrative affairs upon becoming prime minister in "Open Government", principally as an act of revenge against Hacker for managing his rival's leadership campaign. In "Party Games", he unexpectedly retired after his home secretary and deputy was forced to resign following a spectacular drink-driving incident; Hacker surmised that Attwell held on to the premiership only to deny it to his then likely successor. Spending his retirement writing his memoirs, Attwell's sudden death in the Yes, Prime Minister episode "A Diplomatic Incident" saw his state funeral serve as an unofficial summit, during which Hacker discussed the terms of joint British-French management of the Channel Tunnel with the French president.
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| Yes, Prime Minister
| rowspan="2" | Jim Hacker
| Television
| 1986–1988
|
| Previously the minister for administrative affairs and party chairman, Hacker became prime minister in "Party Games" after the surprise retirement of his predecessor. Hacker positioned himself as a moderate candidate after learning that the foreign secretary and chancellor of the exchequer (the likely successors following the home secretary's resignation due to drink-driving) both posed serious security risks. In companion books written as published diary entries, Hacker ceased being prime minister after leading his party to defeat at the next general election.
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| Ali G Indahouse
| Film
| 2002
| Michael Gambon
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| Carry On Emmannuelle
| Film
| 1978
| Robert Dorning
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