Thatcher: The Downing Street Years

A look back at the reign of Margaret Thatcher. Thatcher was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom between 1979 and 1990. She was the first women to become the Prime Minister in the UK and won following a difficult period in British history after the premiership of Labour Prime Minister, Jim Callaghan. Her 11 and a half years in powers was full of iconic and controversial moments. She went into the Falklands War in 1982 following the Argentinean invasion of the islands that are British territory. This led to the "Iron Lady"'s victory in the 1983 general election with a bigger majority than the previous election. She then went about destroying the trade union movement between 1984 and 1985, she destroyed the National Union of Mineworkers and the coal industry, she also destroyed the steel industry and printing industry amongst others. She also survived an IRA bomb attack in 1984 whilst in Brighton during the Tory Party Conference. However, she still went on to win the 1987 general election but the public began to get sick of her and her own colleagues ended up following when she introduced the "poll tax" and because of her outspoken views on the European Community. She was eventually forced out after a leadership election where she fought against Michael Heseltine. This 3 part documentary looks at each period of government and interviews Thatcher herself along with other prominent figures in her government such as Douglas Hurd.