Drama tells story of Thatcher's final TV interview

Brian and Maggie stars Steve Coogan and Harriet Walter in the titular roles

The writer of a new two-part series about a television interview involving Margaret Thatcher says political conversation has "changed a lot over the past 10 years".

James Graham penned Brian and Maggie, which stars Steve Coogan as journalist Brian Walden and Harriet Walter as the Iron Lady.

He said "we've moved away from these big TV interviews" to mediums such as social media and podcasts, adding "it's not always as kind or as empathetic or as nuanced as maybe it once was".

The Channel 4 show depicts Thatcher's final television interview, which took place in 1989, and the unlikely friendship between Walter and the former prime minister.

Graham, originally from Mansfield in Nottinghamshire, describes the show as "the end of a friendship between these two people who basically sort of loved each other".

He added: "And in this one moment live on television, they sort of accidentally destroyed each other, and they never spoke again afterwards.

"It's a really compelling, strange pocket, I think, of modern British history."

James Graham's works include Sherwood and Dear England

Graham said Thatcher "really trusted" Walden, and the interview came at "the most vulnerable moment of her career at the time", as her chancellor Nigel Lawson had resigned.

"She thought she was going to face a friend," Graham said.

"And he immediately goes for her.

"You can see behind her eyes a flicker of what is going on, what's happening, why are they being betrayed. And it's painful, it's riveting."

Graham, who also wrote the BBC drama Sherwood, said Thatcher still "looms large" in the communities that he grew up in.

He added: "If people watch the drama, I encourage people then to go and watch the actual interview on YouTube, because it is like a piece of theatre to me."

The show is based on a book by political editor and TV producer Rob Burley.

The first episode aired on Wednesday, with the second appearing on screen on Thursday.