This evening I went to the press launch and screening of BBC 4’s soon to be aired dramatisation of Margaret Thatcher’s path to parliament; ‘Margaret Thatcher: The Long Walk to Finchley‘.  Firstly as a an act of fiction one has to permit the producers their fair share of dramatic licence, but taking that into account I left the theatre (which incidentally was a pretty cool one in the Charlotte Street Hotel) feeling that the BBC had managed to humanise Lady Thatcher in a way others, often purposely, have failed to. 

If I was to identify one thing that stood out and made the drama worthwhile it would have to be its effectiveness in communicating the difficulties Lady Thatcher had to overcome in order, eventually, to get selected.  Both as a woman and someone outside the establishment hers was not an easy journey.  However, in communicating the level of adversity The Walk to Finchley also managed to convey the sense of an individual possessed of incredible character, intense ambition and self-belief; sadly however it felt at times as though the ambition and self-belief were perhaps overplayed, creating an undeserved aura of inhumanity. 

My only other real criticism relates to the portrayal of Dennis Thatcher.  In their attempt to make clear Lady Thatcher’s dominance in the relationship the producers created impression that Dennis was something of a social inadequate, not altogether comfortable around other people (something his reputation as a party host would seem to contradict). 

All told though The Long Walk to Finchley is well worth a watch and portrays Lady Thatcher in a deservedly positive light.