Acting
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, DStJ, PC, FRS, HonFRSC (née Roberts; 13 October 1925 – 8 April 2013) was a British stateswoman and Conservative politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the longest-serving British prime minister of the 20th century and the first woman to hold the position. As prime minister, she implemented economic policies known as Thatcherism. A Soviet journalist dubbed her the "Iron Lady", a nickname that became associated with her uncompromising politics and leadership style. Thatcher studied chemistry at Somerville College, Oxford, and worked briefly as a research chemist before becoming a barrister. She was elected Member of Parliament for Finchley in 1959. Edward Heath appointed her secretary of state for education and science in his 1970–1974 government. In 1975, she defeated Heath in the Conservative Party leadership election to become leader of the opposition, the first woman to lead a major political party in the UK. On becoming prime minister after winning the 1979 general election, Thatcher introduced a series of economic policies intended to reverse high inflation and Britain's struggles in the wake of the Winter of Discontent and an oncoming recession. Her political philosophy and economic policies emphasised greater individual liberty, the privatisation of state-owned companies, and reducing the power and influence of trade unions. Her popularity in her first years in office waned amid recession and rising unemployment. Victory in the 1982 Falklands War and the recovering economy brought a resurgence of support, resulting in her landslide re-election in 1983. She survived an assassination attempt by the Provisional IRA in the 1984 Brighton hotel bombing and achieved a political victory against the National Union of Mineworkers in the 1984–85 miners' strike. In 1986, Thatcher oversaw the deregulation of UK financial markets, leading to an economic boom, in what came to be known as the Big Bang. Thatcher was re-elected for a third term with another landslide in 1987, but her subsequent support for the Community Charge (also known as the "poll tax") was widely unpopular, and her increasingly Eurosceptic views on the European Community were not shared by others in her cabinet. She resigned as prime minister and party leader in 1990, after a challenge was launched to her leadership, and was succeeded by John Major, her chancellor of the Exchequer. After retiring from the Commons in 1992, she was given a life peerage as Baroness Thatcher (of Kesteven in the County of Lincolnshire) which entitled her to sit in the House of Lords. In 2013, she died of a stroke at the Ritz Hotel, London, at the age of 87. A polarising figure in British politics, Thatcher is nonetheless viewed favourably in historical rankings and public opinion of British prime ministers. Her tenure constituted a realignment towards neoliberal policies in Britain; the complex legacy attributed to this shift continues to be debated into the 21st century.
Filmography
Chernobyl: Inside the Meltdown
Series · 2026
Unforgotten: The Bradford City Fire
Film · 2025
Kenny Dalglish
Film · 2025
A Very British Sex Scandal: The Love Child & the Secretary
Film · 2024
Striking with Pride: United at the Coalface
Film · 2024
Strike: An Uncivil War
Film · 2024
Secrets & Spies: A Nuclear Game
Series · 2024
Miners' Strike 1984: The Battle for Britain
Series · 2024
In the Grip of Gazprom
Film · 2023
Her Majesty's Prime Ministers: John Major
Film · 2023
Lockerbie
Series · 2023
Ice Under His Feet
Film · 2022
Thatcher's Not Dead
Film · 2022
Kids' TV: The Surprising Story
Film · 2022
McEnroe
Film · 2022
Nazi Hunters: The Real Walk-In
Film · 2022
Prelúdio
Film · 2022
Margaret Thatcher: Serving the Crown
Film · 2022
Freddie Mercury: The Final Act
Film · 2022
The Real Spies Among Friends
Film · 2022
Rise of the Footsoldier: Origins
Film · 2021
Thatcher vs The Miners: The Battle for Britain
Film · 2021
Endgame in Ireland
Series · 2021
Influence
Film · 2020
History 101
Series · 2020
Rise Up: Protests that Changed the World
Series · 2020
Laboratory Greece
Film · 2019
Iron Fists and Kung Fu Kicks
Film · 2019
Meeting Gorbachev
Film · 2019
Brexit: The Uncivil War
Film · 2019
Breakpoint: A Counter History of Progress
Film · 2019
England 79
Film · 2019
1979: Big Bang of the Present
Film · 2019
Thatcher: A Very British Revolution
Series · 2019
The Troubles: A Secret History
Series · 2019
I, Dolours
Film · 2018
Hong Kong: Retrocession Generation
Film · 2017
紫荆花开
Series · 2017
Versus: The Life and Films of Ken Loach
Film · 2016
Hillsborough
Film · 2016
Shadow World
Film · 2016
The Swap
Film · 2016
How to Win the US Presidency
Film · 2016
Laissez-faire
Film · 2015
The Emperor's New Clothes
Film · 2015
The 90s: Ten Years That Changed the World
Film · 2015
Soul Boys of the Western World
Film · 2014
Margaret Thatcher: The Woman Who Changed Britain
Film · 2013
Maggie and Me
Film · 2013
Margaret: Death of a Revolutionary
Film · 2013
Margaret Thatcher: Prime Minister
Film · 2013
Margaret Thatcher: The Iron Lady
Film · 2012
Palme
Film · 2012
The Lady is Not for Turning: An Unauthorized Story on Margaret Thatcher
Film · 2011
Reagan
Film · 2011
How to Win the TV Debate
Film · 2010
Secret Origin: The Story of DC Comics
Film · 2010
The Shock Doctrine
Film · 2009
Portillo on Thatcher
Film · 2008
The New Ten Commandments
Film · 2008
How to Be an Ex-Prime Minister
Film · 2007
Margaret Thatcher, l'enfance d'un chef
Film · 2007
The Trap: What Happened to Our Dream of Freedom
Series · 2007
The Dark Side of Porn: The Real Animal Farm
Film · 2006
Best Ever Spitting Image
Film · 2006
Remembering Reagan at His Ranch
Film · 2004
In Search of Tony Blair
Film · 2004
The Downing Street Patient
Film · 2004
Strike: When Britain Went to War
Film · 2003
The Century of the Self
Series · 2002
Cabinet Confidential
Film · 2001
The Pinochet Case
Film · 2001
The Secret Rulers of the World
Series · 2001
Blackadder: Back & Forth
Film · 1999
Reagan
Film · 1998
Degeneration Punk
Film · 1997
How to Be Prime Minister
Film · 1996
Odd Man Out: A Film Portrait of Enoch Powell
Film · 1995
Empire of the Censors
Film · 1995
Westminster's Secret Service
Film · 1995
Satans mördare
Film · 1995
The Wilderness Years
Series · 1995
Wasted Windfall
Series · 1994
Thatcher: The Downing Street Years
Series · 1993
The Falklands War: The Untold Story
Film · 1987
Dispatches
Series · 1987
To Kill the Cabinet
Film · 1986
Rockin' Ronnie
Film · 1986
The Englishwoman's Wardrobe
Film · 1986
Informe especial
Series · 1984
The Red and the Blue
Film · 1983
Let Poland Be Poland
Film · 1982
Wogan
Series · 1982
40 Minutes
Series · 1981
Rude Boy
Film · 1980
TV Eye
Series · 1978
Val Meets The VIPS
Series · 1973
Weekend World
Series · 1972
Weekend World
Series · 1972
World in Action
Series · 1963
Panorama
Series · 1953