David Batra's reality series on SVT was supposed to lightly depict his attempts to learn how to become a good "first lady" – to Stockholm's County Governor Anna Kinberg Batra.
But during filming, everything changed. While David Batra visits Sweden's Ambassador to South Africa, Håkan Juholt, he sees on TV how Anna Kinberg Batra's way of creating a fast track for close friends to positions is being questioned by the media, who are chasing the County Governor.
Test
Batra goes home directly.
This will be my final and greatest test as a first lady, he explains in the program.
SVT's cameras follow how the Batra couple tries to handle the scandal. Anna Kinberg Batra admits to her husband that she has done wrong, but cannot accept how it is presented in the media.
They want to whip me as a person until I give up..., but I'm not going to do that, she says.
Anna Kinberg Batra feels like a prisoner in the County Governor's residence opposite the Royal Palace and David Batra tells that his wife receives extra bodyguard protection.
But it's the price you have to pay for living in a democracy. Then you have to tolerate some scrutiny... But you've had more fun weeks in your life, says David Batra in the program.
"Can anyone forgive me?"
During a conversation between the couple, Anna Kinberg Batra says that she would have wanted a time machine to go back and set everything right.
I'm also human. I've done wrong, can anyone forgive me? I hope so, of course.
Anna Kinberg Batra stubbornly refuses to resign, but in September, the Parliamentary Ombudsman directs sharp criticism towards her actions and the government fires her.
The TV cameras are there and depict the tearful moment when the resignation is a fact. And are also present when the couple packs up to leave Tessin Palace for the last time.
Apparently, the rules are that if I were to die, the family has three months to move out. But since I'm alive, we have to move out as soon as possible, says Anna Kinberg Batra with a crooked smile to her husband.
Seven years ago, David Batra quickly had to redo his show "The Elephant in the Room" after Anna Kinberg Batra resigned as leader of The Moderate Party. Now history repeats itself. The TV program that was supposed to be about something else ends with the story of how his wife gets fired.
As a comedian, you have to say that I have the world's worst timing, says Batra in the TV program.
The final episode of "First Lady" is released on SVT Play on November 19 and is broadcast on SVT1 the day after.
