Is Brian and Maggie based on a true story?

The interview itself became a national talking point, not least because it unfolded just days after the much talked-about resignation of her chancellor, Nigel Lawson.

While Walden and Thatcher were known for their on-air rapport, this final interview was set to be their undoing as Walden took on a particularly cut-throat approach to questions.

Speaking about the story at the centre of Brian and Maggie, series writer James Graham said of Walter's performance as Thatcher: "This is Margaret as seen through an intimate relationship that I think many audiences won't be aware of.

"A strange and complicated relationship between a leader and a journalist meant to hold her to account, but many boundaries were crossed."

But what is the true story at the heart of the new Channel 4 drama? Read on for everything you need to know about the real-life events that Brian and Maggie is based on.

Is Brian and Maggie based on a true story?

Yes, Brian and Maggie is based on a true story.

While the new Channel 4 series dramatises the events of the time, it is based on Rob Burley's book, Why Is This Lying Bastard Lying to Me?, in which Burley offers a unique insight into the British political class "during a time when no one appears to be telling the truth", according to its synopsis.

The series itself gives us an insight into the political interview machine at the time in the '80s, but in terms of the interviews themselves, Walden was a successful broadcaster who started off his career as a Labour MP and went on to become known for his in-depth interview style.

He started work at London Weekend Television, going on to front the Weekend World show, as well as The Walden Interview and Walden.

An incredibly successful political interviewer, Walden interviewed Margaret Thatcher multiple times during her time as an MP and prime minister.

However, it was on 29th October 1989 that his growing friendship with Thatcher took a turn for the worse after a pre-arranged interview with Thatcher coincided with the resignation of Thatcher's chancellor, Nigel Lawson, on the 26th.

Nevertheless, Thatcher went on to do the interview with Walden, who had previously been quite forgiving of the politician in his interviews but didn't spare any mercy in pressing her for answers about Lawson's resignation.

The interview came to be best known due to Thatcher's answer of "I don't know" when asked if Lawson would have stayed if she had sacked her economics advisor, Alan Walters.

The interview can be watched in full below.

Speaking about how the idea for the series came about, Steve Coogan told Channel 4: "I got a message from Rob Burley, who used to produce The Andrew Marr Show and who wrote a book called Why Is This Lying Bastard Lying to Me? about the history of the political interview.

"In that book, he came across this quite meaningful friendship between Brian Walden and Margaret Thatcher which he said was quite an interesting story. He then said to me that he thought I should make it into a TV show and said: 'You should play Brian Walden.'

"So, Sarah (my CEO at Baby Cow) and I went for lunch with Ian Katz from Channel 4 and we pitched various things to him.

"As we were leaving, I said 'Oh, there is one more thing. It's about Brian Walden and Margaret Thatcher,' and he immediately said, 'Oh, I want that,' so I thought, 'Oh good, let’s get on with it then!'

"I then called James Graham and asked him if he would do it. I had met James before and I’m a huge admirer of his work so wondered if it would tickle his fancy. He said it was right up his street and he set about it fairly soon after that.

"There were fits and starts along the way, but James took to it like a duck to water, as they say."

Coogan added: "The story to me was a fascinating one, which was this political love story of sorts between a disillusioned Labour politician and Margaret Thatcher, who was quite a radical politician at the time.

"The two of them were outsiders, and that’s what attracted them to each other, above and beyond their political views.

"I think Brian was naturally on the left, from a working-class background, and Margaret Thatcher as well was from the lower middle class, the smalls trades people background."

Speaking about what made him think his book would make a good TV drama, author and executive producer Burley also said: "The more I found out about the relationship between Brian Walden and Margaret Thatcher, the more convinced I became that this was perfect for TV drama.

"This influenced the way I wrote that part of the book, which is very much designed as a story across two chapters with a satisfying resolution."

Did Margaret Thatcher take electric baths, as shown in Brian and Maggie?

In one of the scenes in Brian and Maggie, Thatcher phones her assistant to arrange another session with Veronique that same day. Donning a scarf that she's wrapped around her head and sunglasses, we next see Thatcher get out of a car and approach a mystery house.

Once inside, she hands the woman an envelope – presumably of money – and the woman draws a medical curtain over part of the room. We then see that inside is what appears to be a jacuzzi bath, but it is actually hooked up to a machine.

Thatcher is lying inside the bath when Veronique switches on the jets, as well as an electrical current which appears to be electrocuting her. But is it fact or fiction?

Well, it appears to be very real. In a profile in Vanity Fair in 1989, Thatcher's questionable health remedies were unveiled and her use of electric baths to stay youthful was revealed.

As outlined in The Guardian, the Vanity Fair profile said that Thatcher "visited an Indian practitioner who would run 0.3 amps of electricity through water".

Brian and Maggie outlines that there was a Tory backbencher who referred to Thatcher as "slightly off her trolley", a narrative that was likely driven by public scrutiny of her health practices.

According to files that were released in 2019, Thatcher's use of royal jelly, vitamin C and supplements sent by Dame Barbara were also documented.

As detailed by the BBC, Chris Collins, of the Margaret Thatcher Foundation, said he believed her interest in alternative medicines was genuine but that references in the archives were "obscure, perhaps deliberately so".

Brian and Maggie premieres on Channel 4 on Wednesday 29th January at 9pm.

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