Brian And Maggie episode 1 review | Drama through a contact lens

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Steve Coogan and Harriet Walter clash in a political drama that never quite delivers on its promises. Hereā€™s our Brian And Maggie episode 1 review.


Screenwriter James Graham is no stranger to tales of post-war British politics, nor to political interviews down a camera lens. His 2012 play, This House, shot him to fame with an incisive look at the political turmoil leading up to the 1979 vote of no confidence against James Callaghan. In 2021, Best Of Enemies earned similar acclaim for examining the birth of political punditry in the US. Brian And Maggie, a two-part TV special set in the years leading up to the firecracker interview which effectively took down Thatcher’s premiership should have been a home run.

Beginning with a disaffected Brian Walden (Steve Coogan) sitting as a Labour MP in 1977, the affable Midlander accepts an offer to pivot into broadcasting at the front of his own long-form political interview programme. His first guest, a certain Leader of the Opposition (Harriet Walter), enjoys their chat, in part because her opponent doesn’t seem to get a word in edgeways. It’s the first of several interviews leading up to their final confrontation, as we chart their blossoming friendship alongside the pair’s on-screen antics.

Unfortunately, it’s a relationship that never quite clicks. Coogan’s Walden, while undoubtedly an almost pitch-perfect impersonation, never risks becoming something more. The interviewer extraordinaire is played identically on-screen and off, his measured Black Country lilt becoming strangely robotic when talking about football scores or contract negotiations. Walter’s Thatcher has more promise – but an inch-thick makeup job, authentic 80s studio over-lighting and the unforgiveable decision to hide her eyes behind blazing blue contact lenses (or use some kind of digital trickery; the effect either way makes the actor’s job near-impossible) means her performance has a mountain of inauthenticity to climb before it reaches our eyes. Two very good impressions doth not good drama make.

Only adding to the layer of artifice, Stephen Frearsā€™ long-take-heavy direction lacks any of the pace the script desperately needs. Conversations in a busy news studio and the rooms of 10 Downing Street progress with all the urgency of a chat on a sun lounger. What should have been a chance to make implicit comparisons to the state of modern politics instead makes do with heavy-handed explanations of 1980s ideological positions (Thatcher liked arguing and the free market, you say? Tell me more).

But, alack! This is inexplicably only the first part of what should really have been a good old-fashioned TV movie. Duly, weā€™ve split the review in two, as well, where youā€™ll find the end of thisā€¦

Read more: Brian And Maggie episode 2 review | The page is not for turning

Brian And Maggie is available to stream on Channel 4 from 29th January.

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