What's the story?
The West Wing.
Trump?
Not Trump. I'm talking about a president with fierce intellect, integrity, compassion, stoicism and quick wit.
Obama?
Close. President Bartlet.
I'm a tad confused.
President Josiah Bartlet. As played by Martin Sheen in Aaron Sorkin's seminal US political drama The West Wing. Channel 4 has freshly snapped up the rights to the full caboodle – that's seven series and 154 episodes – for its on-demand streaming service All 4, available now.
READ MORE: Author and TV presenter Damian Barr on the joy of the South Downs
Is it worth a re-watch?
If you like rapid-fire dialogue coupled with epic walk-and-talks, then buckle up.
Walk-and-talks?
Exactly as it sounds. One of The West Wing's most famous scenes in this vein lasts three minutes, involving a ballroom, a kitchen, two stairwells, a car park, 500 extras, five script pages and 29 takes. You can see it in the episode, Five Votes Down, in the opening series.
Remind me of the cast?
As well as Sheen, there's Rob Lowe, Stockard Channing, Allison Janney, Richard Schiff, Dule Hill, John Spencer and Alan Alda to name but a few.
READ MORE: 20 spooky spots to send shivers down your spine this Hallowe'en
And when I've binged all 154 episodes?
The next addition to All 4's growing slate of US box sets will be noughties teen drama One Tree Hill, available from Friday.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel