Fame Is the Spur (TV series)

Fame Is the Spur is a British television mini-series consisting of 8 episodes which first aired on the BBC in 1982. It was based on the 1940 novel Fame Is the Spur by Howard Spring. It depicts a socialist politician who betrays his early beliefs as he grows older, and was believed to be based upon the Labour Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald. It had previously been adapted as a film Fame Is the Spur by the Boulting Brothers in 1947.

The series starred Tim Pigott-Smith as Hamer Shawcross, prior to his success in The Jewel in the Crown. Joanna David played Shawcross's wife and George Costigan co-starred as Tom Hannaway.