FIRST look images have been released showing Steve Coogan in a drama depicting the interview deemed to have ended Margaret Thatcher’s time as prime minister.
In 1989 old friends Thatcher and the journalist Brian Walden came together for their last ever TV interview.
Some 45 minutes later their showdown – now one of most infamous political exchanges of all time – set in train a series of events that ended with Thatcher’s resignation.
Steve Coogan and Harriet Walter in Brian and MargaretChannel 4 have commissioned two-part drama Brian and Margaret which tells that story.
Produced by Baby Cow Productions, Coogan stars as Walden, with Harriet Walter starring as Thatcher, in the production.
The show has been written by James Graham and is based on political editor and TV producer Rob Burley’s book Why is This Lying Bastard Lying to Me?.
“It’s great to be telling a story from the era of the sorely missed forensic interview - two giants of their time locking horns to determine the future of Britain,” Coogan said of his latest project.
Brian and Margaret is due to air on Channel 4 next year“To act opposite Harriet Walter with a script by James Graham directed by Stephen Frears is a challenge of the very best kind,” the second generation Irishman, whose parents are both of Irish descent - with his mother growing up in Mayo, said.
Walter added: “I have to travel a great distance to reach Maggie Thatcher but with James’s brilliant script, Stephen Frears to guide me and Steve Coogan to accompany me I have the dream team to help me achieve it.”
Writer Graham said: “I’m beyond excited to be working with this incredible world-class team on a story brought to us by Rob Burley from his book ‘Why Is This Lying B*stard Lying To Me’.
Harriet Walter as Margaret Thatcher in the show“It’s a chance to bring to life the intimate and complicated relationship between Brian Walden and Margaret Thatcher – interrogator, and Prime Minister.
“An epic one of love and betrayal, and I think an audience will be surprised by a lot of it. I know I was.”
Brian and Margaret is due to be released on Channel 4 in 2025.
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