TV series about Grantham-born woman starts on Monday

Thatcher: A Very British Revolution

Episode 1 of 5 -Making Margaret

In the first episode of this series charting the irresistible rise and dramatic downfall of Grantham-born Margaret Thatcher, her inner circle reveals how Margaret Thatcher manages to overcome her outsider status to become a prominent political figure in Britain. After a controversial policy has the press label her the ‘Milk-snatcher’ her political future is in jeopardy but she survives when prime minister Edward Heath decides not to sack her.

Dismayed by his stewardship of the country in the early 1970s Mrs Thatcher challenges Heath for leadership of the Conservatives.

As a woman from a modest social background – a Grantham shopkeeper’s daughter – she appears unlike any of her colleagues but with the help of canny political operators she achieves the apparently impossible and defeats Heath and the party elite who backed him.

Those closest to her at the time describe how as new leader of the Conservatives she begins to support controversial policies that will shake-up the economic and political settlement that has prevailed in Britain since the second world war. She promotes free market ideas, transforming the economy and reducing trade union power.

She also adopts a new political persona taking on the mantle of the ‘Iron Lady’ given to her by the Soviet press and seeks help from advisors who change her image and her voice as she seeks the support of the British electorate.

As the 1979 election approaches Margaret Thatcher embarks on an energetic campaign to unseat Labour and usher in a new era that will bring turbulent change and division and be dominated by the force of her personality and ideas.

The new series begins on Monday at 9.00pm on BBC2