BBC to reignite Thatcher debate
THE BBC is to make a landmark documentary series about Baroness Thatcher that will “reignite the debate” about her political legacy.
The corporation, which has faced many accusations of bias against the former Tory leader, said the programme would offer a balanced appraisal of a “compelling” and “divisive” figure.
Broadcast next year to mark the 40th anniversary of Margaret Thatcher’s election as prime minister, the fivepart BBC Two series will ask why “she repeatedly tops opinion polls when ordinary British people are asked to name both our worst, and our greatest, postwar leader”.
It will feature commentary from political friends and foes, alongside testimony from the citizens from every corner of Britain whose lives would be
altered for ever by the powerful shifts she brought about.”
With the working title Thatcher, the “deeply personal, genuinely revelatory” film will seek “to reignite the debate around one of the most influential but controversial political figures of our times”.
The series will be made by the BBC’S documentary team. Aysha Rafaele, its creative director, said: “Whether we love it or hate it, we all live in a world created by Margaret Thatcher.”
There was no love lost between Mrs Thatcher and the BBC. Mark Thompson, the former director-general, once admitted that “staff were quite mystified by the early years of Thatcher”.
When Lady Thatcher died in 2014 and protesters propelled Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead into the top 10, the BBC refused to ban the song from its chart show, but restricted its play to a five-second excerpt.