Margaret Thatcher (neé Roberts) was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 until at least 1987.
Biography[]
Margaret Roberts (PROSE: The Assassin's Story [+]Andrew Collins, Short Trips: Repercussions (Short Trips short stories).) married Denis Thatcher. (AUDIO: The Ultimate Adventure [+]Terrance Dicks, adapted from The Ultimate Adventure (Terrance Dicks), The Stageplays (Big Finish Productions, 2008).) In March 1965, Lady Catherine Waverly believed that Thatcher, then in opposition, already showed a great deal of promise and Sir Toby Kinsella predicted that she would make her mark. (AUDIO: Manhunt [+]Error: Code 2 - no data stored in variables, cache or SMW.)
In 1975, she was known as "Thatcher Thatcher the milk snatcher". (PROSE: Cuckoo-Spit [+]Mark Gatiss, Doctor Who Storybook 2007 (Doctor Who Storybook, 2006).)
Thatcher became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in 1979, (TV: Tooth and Claw [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 2 (BBC One, 2006).) after leading the Conservative Party to victory in the general election on 4 May, (PROSE: The Time Traveller's Almanac [+]Steve Tribe, BBC Books (2008).) succeeding either James Callaghan (AUDIO: The Oseidon Adventure [+]Error: Code 2 - no data stored in variables, cache or SMW.) or Shirley Williams. (PROSE: Interference - Book One [+]Lawrence Miles, BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 1999).) On Saturday 27 September 1980, she visited London Zoo with the Chinese Ambassador and the British foreign minister. (PROSE: Downtime: Child of the New World [+]Andy Frankham-Allen, Lethbridge-Stewart (Candy Jar Books, 2020).)
Thatcher led the Conservative Party to victory in the general election on 9 June 1983 in a landslide over the Labour Party. (AUDIO: Rat Trap [+]Error: Code 2 - no data stored in variables, cache or SMW.) In 1984, London Zoo had a female Tibetan Yeti named Mahamaya, which was successfully bred with a male from Peking. Their offspring was named Margaret after Thatcher, whom she bit at a photocall. (PROSE: Downtime [+]Marc Platt, adapted from Downtime (Marc Platt), Virgin Missing Adventures (Virgin Books, 1996).) In the same year, the Kin used Thatcher as a disguise. (PROSE: Nothing O'Clock [+]Neil Gaiman, Puffin eshort (Puffin Books, 2013).)
The Seventh Doctor, Roz Forrester and Chris Cwej lived for a short time in a housing estate in 1987, during her time in power. (PROSE: Damaged Goods [+]Russell T Davies, Virgin New Adventures (Virgin Books, 1996).; AUDIO: Damaged Goods [+]Jonathan Morris, adapted from Damaged Goods (Russell T Davies), Novel Adaptations: Volume 2 (Novel Adaptations, Big Finish Productions, 2015).) That year, posters from the Socialist Worker read, in block letters, "No Third Term For Thatcher". (TV: Father's Day [+]Paul Cornell, Doctor Who series 1 (BBC One, 2005).)
Some time in the late twentieth century, Romana II met with her to discuss the impending arrival of the Krikkit fleet. She remembered the Doctor fondly as "an outlandish white-haired figure who had spent the entire evening insulting civil servants" at a dinner at Auderly House. To stop the fleet from Krikkit, Thatcher suggested "always moving, never arriving", so Romana used the energy from the world's nuclear arsenal to freeze the Krikkitmen in place. She wondered what "Ronnie" would think of that. (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Krikkitmen [+]Error: Code 2 - no data stored in variables, cache or SMW.)
The Sixth Doctor served as an advisor or consultant to her. He referred to her disdainfully as "that woman" and admitted that she terrified him. (AUDIO: The Ultimate Adventure [+]Terrance Dicks, adapted from The Ultimate Adventure (Terrance Dicks), The Stageplays (Big Finish Productions, 2008).) His tenth incarnation showed further distaste for her. (TV: Tooth and Claw [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 2 (BBC One, 2006).)
Legacy[]
Margaret Thatcher had a biography that was kept inside the York Central Library. The Ninth Doctor defaced a copy of her biography with a "hand-held electronic 'eraser' device" prior to March 2005, along with the biographies of HG Wells, Boudica, Tancred Norman, Xenocrates and Blaise Pascal, scribbling "Nessie was here!" in the space freed by the Doctor's removal of various paragraphs. Senior librarian Ms Millicent Davies banned the Doctor from the York Central Library and then applied to get the Doctor an ASBO to ban him from all UK libraries. (PROSE: Have You Seen This Man? [+]various authors, Who is Doctor Who? (BBC, 2005).
A photograph of Thatcher was present, along with other holders of the office of Prime Minister, on the stairs of 10 Downing Street. (TV: Aliens of London [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 1 (BBC One, 2005).)
References[]
In contrast to her Indian counterpart and contemporary Indira Gandhi, Peri Brown did not consider Thatcher to be an effective female leader. (AUDIO: The Eye of the Scorpion [+]Iain McLaughlin, Main Range (Big Finish Productions, 2001).
An android replica of Thatcher was the last of a succession of android British Prime Ministers from Robert Walpole created by Tasq. (PROSE: Time Wake [+]Doctor Who Annual 1986 (Doctor Who annual, 1985).)
The Twelfth Doctor briefly mentioned Thatcher as a possible candidate to the Landlord when asking him who the current Prime Minister was. (TV: Knock Knock [+]Mike Bartlett, Doctor Who series 10 (BBC One, 2017).)
Alternate timeline[]
In an alternate timeline, Thatcher was assassinated by her fellow Conservative politician Heathcliffe Bower in 1984. However, the proper timeline was restored by the Fifth Doctor. (PROSE: The Assassin's Story [+]Andrew Collins, Short Trips: Repercussions (Short Trips short stories).)
Behind the scenes[]
She was played by Maureen Lipman in About Face, Sylvia Syms in Thatcher: The Final Days, Anna Massey in Pinochet in Suburbia and Lindsay Duncan in Margaret.
Continuity[]
The reference to a female prime minister in Terror of the Zygons was an ad-lib by Nicholas Courtney, according to the DVD commentary for Frontier in Space. It could suggest that in the Doctor Who universe either Thatcher was elected PM earlier than in real life or that, as intended by the production team, the UNIT stories took place in the near future. A section on "Party Politics" in REF: The Discontinuity Guide (later reprinted on the BBC's Doctor Who Classic Series website), however, claims that the prime minister was Shirley Williams, with Labour taking over from a collapsing Jeremy Thorpe government. In real life, Thatcher resigned as prime minister in 1990, but this has yet to be confirmed in Doctor Who universe continuity.
Satirical portrayals[]
Margaret Thatcher inspired some unflattering portrayals in the Whoniverse. The misguided dictator Helen A from The Happiness Patrol is widely supposed to be based upon her[1], whereas the villainess Rehctaht, the female villain of Turlough and the Earthlink Dilemma, has the name Thatcher, spelled backwards.
The plot of the stage play Recall UNIT: The Great Tea-Bag Mystery, which is not considered a valid source on this wiki, involved members of UNIT battling Dragoids, evil clones of Thatcher.
A villainess named "Thatchos" (a Cyber-Leader in a fright wig) appeared in a Doctor Who parody on The Lenny Henry Show.
The Ultimate Adventure[]
- The The Ultimate Adventure stage play featured, at various times, the Third Doctor, the Sixth Doctor and a unique stage-only Doctor. During the production, Thatcher was played by Judith Hibbert.
Footnotes[]
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