The true story behind Channel 4's Brian and Maggie

Yahoo

28-01-2025

Channel 4's Brian and Maggie recreates one of the most infamous political TV interviews in history between journalist and former MP Brian Walden and then prime minister Margaret Thatcher.
The drama explores the friendship that developed between the pair in the years before they sat down for the interview in 1989, which has been credited for being one of the tipping points in Thatcher's career in the lead up to her fall from power. Steve Coogan takes on the role of Walden and stars opposite Harriet Walter's Thatcher in the two-part series.
Here is everything that you need to know about the real life event.
Walden was first a politician before he entered the world of TV, acting as Labour MP for Birmingham All Saints in 1964 before gaining the nomination in Birmingham Ladywood in 1974 until 1977. During this time, Walden is said to have become disillusioned by Labour's rise of left wing politics.
In 1977 Walden resigned from the House of Commons to pursue a career as a broadcaster and journalist, at the time he said: "I am not leaving because of any disenchantment with the Government. I have gone for positive, not negative reasons."
He joined Weekend World and worked for the programme for nine years, interviewing several leading political voices and becoming known as one of the "most feared" interviewers. As well as Weekend World, he fronted programmes The Walden Interview and Walden.
While it was their exchanges in TV interviews that became known to the public, Walden and Thatcher first met years earlier in the House of Commons when the latter became Conservative leader in 1975. They had a mutual respect for one another, which is why Thatcher went on to agree to multiple interviews with Walden when he went into broadcasting.
Read more: Harriet Walter on playing Margaret Thatcher: 'I shifted to seeing her as a human being' (The Independent, 11-min read)
In one such interview in 1983 the journalist coining the term "Victorian values" to describe her policies, a phrase which the prime minister later used herself. The broadcaster worked with Thatcher outside the newsroom too, writing a speech for her during the 1983 general election campaign, and later describing her as "the master spirit of our age".
They became friends, and were said to have a good rapport because Walden found Thatcher both funny and endearing, she was said to have reminded him of his mother because of her "wonderful dogmatism". The feeling appeared to be mutual, as Thatcher agreed to be interviewed by Walden on multiple occasions, even though she turned other programmes down.
Thatcher and Walden's friendship was tested to its limits in October 1989 when the prime minister agreed to be interviewed by the journalist on The Walden Interview.
Chancellor Nigel Lawson had resigned over Thatcher's refusal to sack Sir Alan Walters, her economics adviser, which changed the course of the interview. While the interview had been planned for months, Lawson's resignation became a key talking point especially as the Tories were turning against Thatcher.
Walden delivered his signature tenacity in the interview, grilling Thatcher over recent events and asking hard-hitting questions that eventually saw the Prime Minister flounder under pressure.
Read more: Thatcher so lacking in empathy she would have been diagnosed with disorder today, says Steve Coogan(The Telegraph, 3-min read)
In one memorable exchange, Walden asked Thatcher: "You come over as being someone who one of your backbenchers said is slightly off her trolley, authoritarian, domineering, refusing to listen to anybody else — why? Why can't you publicly project what you have just told me is your private character?"
Thatcher responded: "Brian, if anyone's coming over as domineering in this interview, it's you. It's you."
Later British political writer John Campbell wrote that Walden's 'journalistic instinct' and the then-PM's 'lack of candour' resulted in 3 million people witnessing a 'a devastating expose' of her. It is said the interview was instrumental in changing political opinion of her forever as it quickly became a national talking point.
The interview became Thatcher's final appearance on TV before she resigned from office on 28 November, 1990. Walden and Thatcher are said to have never spoken again.
Brian and Maggie premieres on Channel 4 on Wednesday, 29 January at 9pm.