On Expenses is a 2010 British television film directed by Simon Cellan-Jones

Simon Cellan-Jones

Simon Cellan-Jones is a Welsh television director and film director, who began his career as a production assistant in the mid-1980s, working on series such as Edge of Darkness. By the late 1980s he had worked his way up to become a director, and he gained credits on some of the most acclaimed...

 and starring Anna Maxwell Martin

Anna Maxwell Martin

Anna Maxwell Martin , sometimes credited as Anna Maxwell-Martin, is a two-time BAFTA award-winning English actress who has won acclaim for her performances as Lyra in His Dark Materials at the Royal National Theatre, as Esther Summerson in the BBC's 2005 adaptation of Bleak House, and as N in...

 as Heather Brooke and Brian Cox as Michael Martin.

The film documents the true story

United Kingdom Parliamentary expenses scandal

The United Kingdom parliamentary expenses scandal was a major political scandal triggered by the leak and subsequent publication by the Telegraph Group in 2009 of expense claims made by members of the United Kingdom Parliament over several years...

 of American journalist Heather Brooke's attempt to get expenses claims of Members of Parliament released under the Freedom of Information Act 2000

Freedom of Information Act 2000

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 is an Act of Parliament of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that creates a public "right of access" to information held by public authorities. It is the implementation of freedom of information legislation in the United Kingdom on a national level...

 and Speaker Michael Martin's battle to prevent it.

Heather Brooke herself appeared in the production in a non-speaking role playing the part of an unnamed MP sitting on the government benches in a scene where Michael Martin is elected to the position of Speaker of the House of Commons.

Cast

Actor	Character
Anna Maxwell Martin Anna Maxwell Martin Anna Maxwell Martin , sometimes credited as Anna Maxwell-Martin, is a two-time BAFTA award-winning English actress who has won acclaim for her performances as Lyra in His Dark Materials at the Royal National Theatre, as Esther Summerson in the BBC's 2005 adaptation of Bleak House, and as N in...	Heather Brooke
Brian Cox	Michael Martin MP
Tim Pigott-Smith Tim Pigott-Smith Tim Pigott-Smith is an English film and television actor.-Early life:Pigott-Smith was born in Rugby, Warwickshire, the son of Margaret Muriel and Harry Thomas Pigott-Smith, who was a journalist. He was educated at Wyggeston Boys' School, Leicester, King Edward VI School Stratford-upon-Avon, and...	Alan Keen MP Alan Keen David Alan Keen was a British Labour Co-operative politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Feltham and Heston from 1992 until his death.-Early life:...
David Calder David Calder (actor) David Calder is a British actor.Calder was born in Portsmouth, England, and trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. His most high profile TV roles include Det. Insp...	Sir Stuart Bell MP Stuart Bell Sir Stuart Bell is a British Labour Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for Middlesbrough since 1983.-Early life:...
Sam Graham	David Maclean MP David Maclean David John Maclean, Baron Blencathra is a Conservative Party life peer. He was the Member of Parliament for Penrith and The Border from 1983 to 2010.-Biography:...
Alan Parnaby	Chris Huhne MP Chris Huhne Christopher Murray Paul-Huhne, generally known as Chris Huhne is a British politician and cabinet minister, who is the current Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for the Eastleigh constituency in Hampshire...
Geoffrey Beevers Geoffrey Beevers Geoffrey Beevers is a British actor who has appeared in many different television roles.Beevers has worked extensively at the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond upon Thames, both as an actor ; and as an adaptor/director of George Eliot's novel Adam Bede , for which he won a Time Out Award, and Balzac's...	Douglas Hogg MP

External links

• BBC Four Programmes – On Expenses