Steve Coogan shines in Brian and Maggie, a love letter to the political interview
Steve Coogan shines in Brian and Maggie, a love letter to the political interview
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In his latest TV show, writer James Graham turns his attention to the 1989 showdown between journalist Brian Walden and Margaret Thatcher. In December 2019, at the end of an interview with Nigel Farage – then the leader of the Brexit Party – the BBC’s Andrew Neil turned to the camera and addressed the prime minister, Boris Johnson. “No broadcaster can compel a politician to be interviewed,” said Neil, “but leaders’ interviews have been a key part of BBC election coverage for decades.” Having watched Farage, Nicola Sturgeon, Jo Swinson and his Labour rival Jeremy Corbyn face the Neil hairdryer treatment, Johnson had opted out. A few days later, he won an 80-seat majority. Now, Channel 4 charts the story of the decline and fall of the political interview in a new drama, Brian and Maggie, which captures the art form at its seminal moment.
![[Coogan and Walter as Brian and Maggie]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/21/10/newFile-2.jpg)
It’s 1989 and Brian Walden (Steve Coogan) is Britain’s pre-eminent political interviewer. His next interview is with the prime minister, Margaret Thatcher (Harriet Walter), who he has known for decades since they sat opposite one another in the Commons: Walden as a young Labour MP, Thatcher, his Tory counterpart. In the intervening years, they have met many times, with Walden serving as both interrogator and confidante. “He’s your favourite for a reason,” Bernard Ingham (Paul Clayton) soothes the PM on their way to the ITV studio. “It’ll be a walk in the park.” And yet it proves anything but, and their heavyweight, primetime clash marks, for many, the moment when Thatcher’s defenestration became inevitable.
