Did anyone catch this on BBC4 last night? Pretty good, I thought. A kind of semi-comic, semi-imagined version of what might have happened during Thatcher's (or, to begin with, Roberts') first decade of trying to be elected to Parliament. Reminded me a bit of Jeffrey Archer: The Truth (but without the surreal flights of fancy).
Andrea Riseborough, although she doesn't look much like Thatch, convincingly captured that combination of cold dead eyes and sickly smile, Rory Kinnear was decent enough as the pussywhipped Dennis, and Samuel West's portrayal of Ted Heath - a barely-controlled mess of uptightness, repression, indecision and impotence - was brilliant.
The foreshadowing gags were perhaps laid on a bit too thickly, mind. The odd milk-snatcher premonition is one thing, but getting the young Carol to refer to going into the jungle, and the young Mark to refer to getting lost in the Sahara (twice), was surplus to requirements.
Still, I'd recommend it if you've got nothing better to watch this week. It's available for another six days here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/page/item/b00c188n.shtml?src="ip_potpw
Andrea Riseborough, although she doesn't look much like Thatch, convincingly captured that combination of cold dead eyes and sickly smile, Rory Kinnear was decent enough as the pussywhipped Dennis, and Samuel West's portrayal of Ted Heath - a barely-controlled mess of uptightness, repression, indecision and impotence - was brilliant.
The foreshadowing gags were perhaps laid on a bit too thickly, mind. The odd milk-snatcher premonition is one thing, but getting the young Carol to refer to going into the jungle, and the young Mark to refer to getting lost in the Sahara (twice), was surplus to requirements.
Still, I'd recommend it if you've got nothing better to watch this week. It's available for another six days here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/page/item/b00c188n.shtml?src="ip_potpw
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