Porn Actor Decoy (Dramatic Irony)
While the prime minister and his aides try to track down the kidnapper's location to rescue Princess Susannah before the 4 p.m. deadline, Special Agent Callett works in secret to fake the footage with the help of a special-effects artist. To save the prime minister the humiliation of having sex with a pig on live TV, the home secretary believes they can green-screen the prime minister's head onto a porn actor's body. In this instance of dramatic irony, the prime minister remains oblivious to the fact his home secretary has gone behind his back to violate the kidnapper's demands.
The Princess is Released Early (Situational Irony)
When the police find Princess Susannah lying in the center of Millennium Bridge, they report her safe return to the prime minister's staff. However, an aide informs the home secretary that CCTV footage confirms the princess was released at 3:30 p.m.—thirty minutes before the prime minister started having sex with the pig. In this instance of situational irony, the home secretary learns that the prime minister went through with the obscene act unnecessarily; if everyone in the country hadn't been glued to their TVs, someone certainly would have encountered the princess stumbling around central London and been able to stop the prime minister going through with it.
DNA Confirms the Finger Belonged to a Man (Situational Irony)
While speaking to the home secretary, the No. 10 aide explains that the princess was found unharmed, even though everyone in the world believed her finger had been cut off. In an instance of situational irony, the aide says a DNA test on the severed finger shows that it belonged to a male. It turns out that what everyone assumed was the princess's finger was actually the kidnapper's finger.
Terrorism as Art (Situational Irony)
At the end of the episode, a UKN reporter explains that the kidnapping stunt was carried out by Carlton Bloom, an artist who'd received Britain's prestigious Turner Prize. By releasing the princess in a deserted public place half an hour before the prime minister met his demands, Bloom makes a damning statement about humanity's voyeuristic appetite for humiliation. In this instance of situational irony, something that everyone assumed was the work of a sophisticated terrorist turns out to be Bloom's parting artistic statement before his suicide.
