Baroness Thatcher 1925 - 2013

[alistairw]

Regardless of what people make of Margaret Thatcher, who has died today, there is no doubt that the fiscal reforms introduced by the first Thatcher government greatly invigorated the British TV and film industry. The producer of Brideshead Revisited has admitted that were it not for these reforms BR would not have been made in the way that it was. And the great success of British films particularly in the 1980s and early 1990s were in a large part due to them as well.

[alistairw]

Please delete this duplicate thread.

[momsne]

Thatcher was elected Prime Minister on 3 May 1979. "Brideshead Revisited" started principal location photography in the summer of 1979, according to Wikipedia. What, Granada Television had a script prepared and hired everyone within two months of her election? And let's not forget acquiring the TV rights to the novel. Let's leave the political rhetoric and misinformation to other web sites.

[alistairw]

Brideshead Revisited began shooting in 1979 with a radically different, and much less ambitious plan. Production was then stopped for a lengthy period due to a major cameraworkers' strike in autumn 1979 and Granada's obligation to release Jeremy Irons so that he could fulfil his contract to make The French Lieutenant's Woman. When production restarted on BR in the second half of 1980 the tax breaks which encouraged the TV companies to offload their large cash holdings into production were fully in effect and Granada, once they had secured the agreement of PBS and their German partner, gave the green light for BR to be transformed into a wholly more elaborate production. The producer of BR discusses this issue at length in his commentary to the 30th anniversary edition. These same tax breaks together with the early PFI legislation categorically played a part in the resurgence of the British film industry from the early 80s onwards.

As to political rhetoric and misinformation, as someone who grew up in the early 80s in the midst of the coal mines of the Kingdom of Fife I am by NO means a supporter of the industrial policies of the successive Thatcher governments.

[Michael O'Regan]

I'm sorry for her family but, she has a lot to answer for in Ireland.

...and, they replaced Seinfeld last night with a programme about her!!

[alistairw]

...and in Scotland and northern England and South Africa and Argentina and....

I think the basic point is that apart from brief bursts the British film industry without , in effect, being subsidised has never been particularly competitive. It was just fortunate that, unlike heavy industry, it was one which appealed to Tory tastes of a generation ago (and to those of New Labour for that matter).

[Penfold]

...and in Scotland and northern England and South Africa and Argentina and....

.....Chile and Cambodia and victims of Al Qaeda.....and Southern England, particularly the cities.......

[alistairw]

In the context of funeral arrangements it does raise the intriguing question of what if Tony Blair had dropped down with a heart attack...though not of course before landing a few more million of lecture fees and book deals.

§erved as long, sent in troops to defeat a couple of more important (though still fairly piddling) "juntas", transformed British politics by making Labour electable again etc. You have to wonder...

[didi-5]

I find the ceremonial funeral plans OTT, rather offensive, and asking for trouble from those who disliked the woman. Far better to have the private cremation and then by all means have a memorial service her admirers and cronies can attend, but not funded from the public purse.

Only Churchill of former PMs has been honored in this way. Making a fuss for Thatcher does set a precedent for pomp and money wasting on an inappropriate scale when, for e.g., Blair dies.

[Penfold]

I find the ceremonial funeral plans OTT, rather offensive, and asking for trouble from those who disliked the woman. Far better to have the private cremation and then by all means have a memorial service her admirers and cronies can attend, but not funded from the public purse.

Only Churchill of former PMs has been honored in this way. Making a fuss for Thatcher does set a precedent for pomp and money wasting on an inappropriate scale when, for e.g., Blair dies.

And certainly a huge contrast to the funreal of Clement Attlee, a private service, cremation, interment in Westminster Abbey - for the greatest British 20thC Prime Minister.

[alistairw]

Good points - just goes to show what even a relatively minor war can do. And if the commercial opportunities of the South Atlantic continental shelf turn out well just see how long the Falkland Islanders will want to remain British!

[Danny Burk]

Folks, this thread really has nothing to do with nitrate era films, and politics are off topic for this forum anyway. There are many other venues for this type of discussion.