Steven Moffat On Building 10 Downing Street For Channel 4’s ‘Number 10’

Steven Moffat and Sue Vertue went into an “obsessive level of detail” when reconstructing the UK Prime Minister’s 10 Downing Street home for buzzy Channel 4 series Number 10.

The storied showrunner and producer talked Deadline through how the reconstruction for the Rafe Spall-starring series stretched all the way to “the right door handles, the right flower pots, the paintings on the correct walls, the precise colours – everything.”

Channel 4’s Number 10 is one of the big shows being sold by ITV Studios at MIPCOM this year and follows a fictional UK Prime Minister doing his day job behind one of the most famous doors in the country. Jenna Coleman and Katherine Kelly also star. Hartswood Films is producing.

The Prime Minister’s home was recreated at Bray Studios for the interior shots but Vertue revealed that exterior shots were taken outside the actual building itself in Central London, with filming taking place across a weekend when the Prime Minister, his family and staff were away.

“The first five minutes [of the show] involve the Prime Minister walking down Downing Street and through the front door,” said Vertue. “I said, ‘Leave it with me’. We didn’t know until the day itself whether something might happen and the filming would be stopped. Obviously we didn’t have access to the most sensitive security areas, but it was still an amazing opportunity.”

The rest of the interior scenes were shot with an “obsessive level of detail,” Moffat explained, including commissioning the person who had originally made the Number 10 fireplace to reconstruct another. The reconstruction was made trickier, however, by the fact that the crew weren’t allowed to take photographs inside Downing Street and there aren’t diagrams online.

“But if you’re selling a show on the idea that audiences will see what happens behind that door, then you have to get what’s behind it right,” added Moffat.

A Number 10 trailer was shown to press and buyers yesterday, spotlighting a tone that seems to sit somewhere in between iconic British comedy The Thick of It and a high-end thriller, with plenty of “gallows humor,” Moffat said. He is a huge fan of political biographies and said his research process was obsessive, although he is keeping schtum on which political bigwigs he spoke with when putting together the scripts.

‘Number 10’ is “ultimately an office comedy”

The UK has had seven Prime Ministers in a decade during a time of political turmoil but Moffat said he wants his show to humanize not demonize, hence why he deliberately doesn’t name the fictional Prime Minister’s party or allegiance.

“It’s a monstrous job,” he added. “If Prime Ministers were simply lazy, ineffective or dishonest, why do they all appear to age 20 years while they’re in office? Look at what the job did to Tony Blair. He still looks haunted.”

Number 10 has already sold to European buyers and Moffat and Vertue are now hopeful a U.S. deal can be brokered.

“Americans tend to like things that are distinctly British,” added Moffat. “Sherlock and Doctor Who are two of the most British shows ever made, and they travelled very well. This is a political show, but ultimately it’s also an office comedy—or perhaps an office comedy-drama. I think that gives it broad appeal.”