Image copyright PA Image caption The prime minister returned from holiday with a new hairstyle and a shock announcement

Anne McElvoy, senior editor at The Economist, tells the inside story of the general election for BBC Radio 4 - talking to key figures about what really went on behind the scenes.

On Tuesday 18 April, Number 10's key staffers returned from their Easter break to see Theresa May sporting a new hair-do.

That made Chris Brannigan, the government's then head of government relations, pause for thought and wonder what might propel the prime minister to a hairdresser on a holiday weekend.

It was the first sign of a drama that would wake up Westminster. Theresa May had decided to go for broke - and call a quick-fire general election.

But the result, accordingto one witness was what one Number 10 insider flatly calls, a "terrible election campaign and a dreadful manifesto".

The result was a night of drama on 8 June that saw Labour resurgent from the left, Tory hopes of an increased majority destroyed - and a hung parliament shored up by support from Northern Irish unionists.

The Inside Story of Election 17 on BBC Radio 4 at 20:00 BST.

With producer Adam Bowen, I set out to trace how one of the great pratfalls of election history occurred - and what its implications looks like for an altered political landscape.

This election goes down alongside Edward Heath's "Who governs Britain?" question in February 1974 (Answer, not Mr Heath) - and Clement Attlee's decision to go to the country in 1951 to enhance