I wonder how many of you watched ‘Brian and Maggie’ on Channel 4. It is a two part drama based on a ling chapter in Rob Burley’s book on the art of political interviewing ‘Why is this Lying Bastard Lying to Me?’ It centres on the final interview Margaret Thatcher did with Brian Walden in October 1989, following the resignation of Nigel Lawson, in which she repeatedly described his position as ‘unassailable’ and he put it to her that people viewed her as being ‘slightly off your trolley’.
In all honesty, I wasn’t expecting much from it. I rarely do with political dramas, as I know they will get things wrong and exaggerate a story. In addition, given Steve Coogan was playing Brian Walden and a leftie actress called Harriet Walter was playing Margaret Thatcher, things didn’t bode well. My fears were heightened when I read a Daily Mail story about Coogan vetoing one scene because it was too sympathetic to Maggie.
However, I was pleasantly surprised. Yes, there were one or two historical boobs. Bernard Ingham was shown working for her in 1978, when he didn’t actually start until late 1979, for example. Dramatic licence is one thing, but this was a straight out error.
There were also one or two scenes where I blurted out loud: “She would never have said that,” or “she would never have done that.”
There was more than a hint of a flirtation between the Walden and Thatcher, something I find very difficult to imagine. It is certainly true that Margaret Thatcher wasn’t beyond flirting, but not with the type of man Brian Walden was. She admired him, but I’m 100 per cent confident she didn’t fancy him. The scene where she was in bed and rang Walden to tell him a joke, to prove she had a sense of humour was utterly preposterous and should have been cut.
I have to say I thought Steve Coogan played Walden brilliantly. He got the accent right, and although he appeared much younger than Walden was at the time. Walden was 57 and Coogan is now 59. Odd. But that is to carp. His characterisation was superb and convincing.
Harriet Walter was an odd casting, given she is 75 and was playing Margaret Thatcher when she was 52 in the first episode. Her face is very long and angular, whereas Margaret Thatcher’s was round and slightly plump. The hair was just right and she had all her odd little mannerism and the pigeon walk, and her voice was incredibly accurate.
Michael Dobbs tells me that as the author of the House of Cards he didn’t really have a lot of influence or control over the way the UK and TV series were made. I wonder how much influence Rob Burley, a veteran of TV political interview shows had over ‘Brian and Maggie’. A lot of the producer characters seemed to be almost caricatures.
I think it was a problem that this interview, although headline making and important, wasn’t really in the top 10 key moments of the defenestration of Margaret Thatcher. It happened a whole year before the events of November 1990 which drove her out of office. The Geoffrey Howe character was also dreadfully cast, given Howe was a big man. Yet Nigel Lawson, who was small and fat, towered over him in this. It was more like Little and Large with Eddie Large being played by Bernard Manning and Syd Little being played by Frank Spencer.
Actually, I think I am being too critical. The whole drama holds your attention, despite the carps, it is believable and if you haven’t seen it already I highly recommend you watch it.
I don’t know how expensive it is to make a drama like this, but I wish more would be made. Contemporary history is fascinating and there are so many events that could be dramatized in such a way.