Tipsheet

A Softer Look at the Iron Lady

The BBC is set to unveil a new drama about Margaret Thatcher, which promises to reveal "her sexy side."  What is more, it seems to portray her as likable:

"As she fights the forces of reaction, Margaret Thatcher, played with rare magnetism by Andrea Riseborough, a 26-year-old rising star who recently appeared in Mike Leigh's Happy-Go-Lucky, comes across as a highly likable heroine. OK, so she's not quite Lara Croft, but she is still a formidable feminist trailblazer. She is, as Denis (Rory Kinnear) remarks the first time he meets her, 'a force of bloody nature'.

'I like to take the standard perception of a character and turn it on its head,' says the programme's writer, Tony Saint. 'This is an affectionate portrait of a commendably strong young woman who loved her husband and children, and I hope people who loathed Mrs Thatcher are really surprised by it'."