Abstract: Depictions of parliament in television series alternate between reality and fiction: reality, in that screenwriters draw inspiration from real institutions; fiction, in the reshaping of reality to serve the storyline. Sometimes they reach the point of myth, such as the clichéd image that runs through space and time of a parliament prone to dishonest schemes. These series therefore only give one impression of parliament: a painting resembling its subject that accentuates certain traits, sometimes going so far as to caricature it as a secondary institution, as playing a minor role in democracy.
