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*Margaret*
Margaret
Written by	Richard Cottan
Directed by	James Kent
Starring	Lindsay Duncan; James Fox; Robert Hardy
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
Production
Producer	Sanne Wohlenberg
Running time	113 minutes
Original release
Network	BBC Two
Release	26 February 2009
Related
	The Long Walk to Finchley

Margaret is a 2009 television film produced by Great Meadow Productions for the BBC. It was first broadcast on 26 February 2009 on BBC Two. It was made by the same production company as the 2008 television film The Long Walk to Finchley, which fictionalised the start of Thatcher's political career.

Plot

Margaret is a fictionalisation of the life of Margaret Thatcher (played by Lindsay Duncan) and her fall from the premiership in the 1990 leadership election, with flashbacks telling the story of Thatcher's defeat of Edward Heath in the 1975 leadership election.^[1]

Production

On 9 April 2008, it was announced that Duncan was to play Thatcher, and filming commenced in the summer of that year.

Cast

Lindsay Duncan – Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister
Ian McDiarmid – Denis Thatcher, Prime Minister's Spouse
Robert Hardy – Willie Whitelaw, Former Deputy Prime Minister and Home Secretary
James Fox – Charles Powell, Prime Minister's Foreign Policy Advisor and Private Secretary
Rupert Vansittart – Peter Morrison, Prime Minister's Parliamentary Private Secretary
Alan Cox – Gordon Reece, Prime Minister's Media Advisor
Christian McKay – John Whittingdale, Prime Minister's Political Secretary
Oliver Le Sueur – Mark Thatcher, Prime Minister's Son
Olivia Poulet – Carol Thatcher, Prime Minister's Daughter
Kevin McNally – Kenneth Clarke, Education Secretary
Roy Marsden – Norman Tebbit, former cabinet minister
Nicholas Rowe – Malcolm Rifkind, Scotland Secretary
Michael Maloney – John Major, Chancellor of the Exchequer
Roger Allam – John Wakeham, Energy Secretary (Allam would go on to have a role in The Iron Lady, a big screen portrayal of Thatcher's terms in office)
Nicholas Jones – Tim Renton, Chief Whip (Jones is also in The Iron Lady, as Admiral Henry Leach)
Tim McMullan – William Waldegrave, Foreign Office Minister
Nicholas Le Prevost – Douglas Hurd, Foreign Secretary
Michael Cochrane – Alan Clark, Defence Minister and Thatcher Supporter (Cochrane would also go on to have a role in The Iron Lady)

John Sessions – Geoffrey Howe, Deputy Prime Minister and Leader of the House of Commons (Sessions would also go on to have a role in The Iron Lady)
Philip Jackson – Bernard Ingham, Prime Minister's Press Secretary
Roger Ashton-Griffiths – John Sergeant, ITV Reporter
Oliver Cotton – Michael Heseltine, Former Defence Secretary
Guy Henry – Tristan Garel-Jones, Government Whip
Diana Kent – Margaret King
Elizabeth Bennett – Sue Mastriforte
Julian Firth – Norman Lamont, Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Rosemary Leach – Queen Elizabeth II
Douglas McFerran – MP2
Nigel Le Vaillant – Edward Heath, Former Conservative Leader and Prime Minister
Dermot Crowley – Airey Neave, Thatcher Campaign Manager in 1975
Ian Hughes – John Gummer
Nicholas Day – Cranley Onslow
Paul Jesson – Kenneth Baker
Charlotte Asprey – Caroline Stephens, Thatcher's secretary, wife of Lord Ryder of Wensum
Jenny Howe – Cynthia Crawford
Tim Wallers – MP1
Martin Chamberlain – Nigel Lawson
Mark Perry – John MacGregor
George Pensotti – Speaker of the House of Commons
Francis Maguire – Official

Hardy, Fox, Vansittart and Cochrane had all appeared in the 2002 TV production of The Falklands Play, by Ian Curteis, about an earlier period in Thatcher's premiership; although many political figures were featured in both films, none of the four actors played the same roles in both.

Allam, Cochrane, Jones and Sessions would go on to appear in the 2011 film The Iron Lady about Thatcher's rise to power, relationship with her husband, and life after politics.

Reception

The Guardian critic praised the "deft casting" and stated that the flashbacks were "illuminating and sometimes entertaining" and that some episodes in the drama were "wholly imaginary and thoroughly un-Thatcherite, but ... [hang] around the mind like cigar smoke".^[2]

Media releases

It is currently available for purchase in the UK.

References

^ "Margaret – introduction". BBC Press Office. 29 January 2009. Retrieved 18 February 2009.
^ Banks-Smith, Nancy (27 February 2009). "TV review". The Guardian.