Viewers will be transported back to the 80s - and the near crescendo of Margaret Thatcher's reign as British Prime Minister, when new two-part drama Brian and Maggie airs tomorrow evening. The hour-long episodes of the Channel 4 docudrama see Harriet Walter and Steve Coogan play the Iron Lady and former Labour MP and broadcast journalist Brian Walden.
![[Face off: Walden, an ex Labour MP, pictured grilling the then PM on October 29th 1989; the Iron Lady would resign less than a year later]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/28/15/94600071-14333991-image-m-37_1738079965780.jpg)
From opposing political spectrums, the pair famously sparred during a string of meetings but neither anticipated quite how their final televised meeting for The Walden Interview, which aired on October 29th 1989, would play out. The retelling of the political showdown, which many say sparked Grantham-born Mrs Thatcher's resignation less than a year later on November 30th 1990, is directed by BAFTA-winning Stephen Frears and will air at 9pm on Wednesday.
![[The interviewer and interviewee pictured in 1984; their famous 1989 interview would be their last]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/28/16/94599299-14333991-image-m-38_1738080110012.jpg)
The Channel 4 show was written by James Graham, known for Sherwood, Quiz and Brexit: The Uncivil War and is based on the book, Why is This Lying B***ard Lying To Me?, by political editor and TV producer Rob Burley. When Thatcher sat down face to face with Walden at the end of the 80s, few expected that a Prime Minister normally bullish in such scenarios would show the first sign of vulnerability that, many said afterwards, eventually led to her leaving Number 10.
![[Walden began the interview by saying the Prime Minister was in 'the most serious political crisis of her career']](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/28/16/94599295-14333991-image-m-39_1738080143814.jpg)
The Iron Lady, who died aged aged 87 following a stroke while at London's Ritz Hotel, considered the tenacious Walden her 'favourite' interviewer. Three million viewers tuned in to watch and the pair, who has been as friendly as a Prime Minister and an interrogator might be, never spoke again after the show aired.
![[Though the Iron Lady vowed to keep journalists at 'arm's length', a chink in her armour appeared during her final interview with Walden]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/28/16/94599301-14333991-image-m-40_1738080198294.jpg)
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