Netflix drama series The Diplomat may have its finger on the pulse of modern politics in many ways, but even it can't entirely keep up with the speed at which things develop.
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Since the show's second season was filmed, the UK general election was held, and it led to a change of government from Conservative to Labour - something which hasn't been reflected in the series thus far.
Instead, the show continues to focus on its fictional Conservative government led by Rory Kinnear's Prime Minister Nicol Trowbridge.
RadioTimes.com caught up with the show's creator, Debora Cahn, and asked for her thoughts on this particular phenomenon, and whether she could envision an election in the show's fictional future to rectify this.
"We knew that we were writing about democracy and about heads of state and about who should and shouldn't be in those positions," Cahn explained.
"We didn't anticipate quite the amount of churn and melodrama that would occur in the real world, both in your country and in this country. So it's been a lot."
Keri Russell in The Diplomat season 2. Alex Bailey/Netflix
She continued: "We were filming in the UK. I think we had, over the time that we were there, three prime ministers, two monarchs, and then what's happened in this country [the USA] in the last 24 months, it's all pretty breathtaking.
"We're not trying to comment directly on what's happening in day-to-day politics, but we do want to be in a conversation that's relevant to where everybody's head is at, and so it's a little bit of a nail-biter to try and hope that we remain as in tune with the zeitgeist, politically, as what's happening day to day."
The second season of The Diplomat picks up right after the first run's cliffhanger ending, which saw Rufus Sewell's Hal caught up in an explosion, just as Keri Russell's Kate realised that the prime minister may have ordered a strike on his own people aboard the HMS Courageous.
James Hibbs is a Drama Writer for Radio Times, covering programmes across both streaming platforms and linear channels. He previously worked in PR, first for a B2B agency and subsequently for international TV production company Fremantle. He possesses a BA in English and Theatre Studies and an NCTJ Level 5 Diploma in Journalism.
