The interview is now seen as the beginning of the end for Thatcher’s premiership. Margaret Thatcher rarely flinched in the face of scrutiny. But one interview, aired on 29 October 1989, proved to be a turning point in her premiership. Conducted by Brian Walden, the former MP turned feared political interviewer, the grilling exposed the Iron Lady’s vulnerabilities and is now widely seen as a moment that hastened her downfall.
![[Harriet Walter as Margaret Thatcher]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/23/12/adsad75394_S1_Ep2_Brian-and-Maggie-S1-Ep2-First-Look-copy.jpg)
That fateful encounter is the focus of Brian and Maggie, a new Channel 4 docudrama starring Harriet Walter (Succession) as Thatcher and Steve Coogan as Walden. Written by Olivier Award-winning playwright James Graham (Sherwood, Quiz, Brexit: The Uncivil War) and directed by Stephen Frears (The Queen, Philomena), the drama revisits the intensity of the interview that saw a rarely flustered Thatcher visibly agitated.
![[Steve Coogan and Harriet Walter have a face-off in ‘Brian and Margaret']](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/06/09/Medium_75394_--Embargo-0001-Wednesday-2nd-October---Brian-and-Margaret-First-Look.jpg)
The docudrama draws from a chapter in Rob Burley’s 2023 book Why is This Lying Bastard Lying To Me? and delves into both the professional dynamic and the unexpected personal connection between Thatcher and Walden. Brian Walden’s rise to prominence was unusual. Born in West Bromwich in 1932, he served as the Labour MP for Birmingham Ladywood from 1964 until 1977, when he resigned to pursue a career in journalism. By the 1980s, he was a household name in political journalism, hosting Weekend World and later launching his own programme, The Walden Interview.
![[Brian Walden interviews Margaret Thatcher in 1983]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/27/15/Screenshot-2025-01-27-at-15.18.01.jpg)
Despite their differing political allegiances, Thatcher and Walden had a mutual respect that developed into a surprising friendship. Walden once likened Thatcher to his mother and described her as “the master spirit of our age.” During her 1983 general election campaign, he even penned a speech for her, coining the term “Victorian values” – a phrase she famously adopted.
