Wikipedia
Shirleymander is a radio comedy-drama written by Gregory Evans. It was adapted from Today journalist Andrew Hosken's book Nothing Like a Dame (2006). Shirleymander was first broadcast as the Friday Play by BBC Radio 4 on 27 November 2009. The play's title is a portmanteau referencing the gerrymandering policy adopted by Shirley Porter while leader of Westminster City Council in the 1980s which "forced homeless families to substandard housing in order to manipulate the borough's voting demographic."
Shirleymander dramatises Porter's time as leader of the council and the scandals that ensued around the illegal homes for votes policy and the sale of 3 cemeteries for 5 pence each. Porter is depicted as "vain, arrogant, bullying and desperate to keep the borough from falling into the hands of her arch-enemies, the socialists." Evans said of his adaptation:
I haven't invented stuff, I haven't needed to. The material in Andrew's book was all carefully researched. The problem is that there is too much and so I have to leave a lot out... I know she is litigious or used to be but I am not making any new allegations in the play.
Maureen Lipman and Imelda Staunton had both been linked with the lead role, which was eventually awarded to Tracy-Ann Oberman. Of her portrayal of Porter, Oberman said:
When I first read the script I couldn't believe that she really did all these dreadful things. I had to be assured that the play was based on fact, not fiction. I actually tried to portray her with a human dimension, but when I spoke to people who knew her from her City Hall days they said I shouldn't bother, as they recalled she didn't have one. I then worked out that Shirley was one of those people who will always see themselves as the victims.