Commentary

Commentary (The Times)

MT: “Baroness Thatcher ‘comfortable’” (dizzy spell)

Document type: Press
Source: The Times , 8 December 2005
Journalist: On line staff, The Times
Editorial comments:
Importance ranking: Minor
Word count: 516 words
Themes: Autobiographical comments, Autobiography (marriage & children), Media

Baroness Thatcher ‘comfortable’

By Times Online

Baroness Thatcher was due to return home today having spent a "comfortable" night in hospital after a health scare.

The 80-year-old former Prime Minister was taken to the a casualty department of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital after she complained of feeling faint during an appointment with her hairdresser.

Lady Thatcher was taken to hospital by her bodyguards and kept in overnight as a precaution, but is expected to be discharged from the hospital today.

Mark Purcell, spokesman for the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, said this morning that Lady Thatcher had spent a comfortable night .

He said that she had been seen by her consultant this morning: "He is happy with her and she is expected to be discharged later today."

Lady Thatcher has suffered from frail health in recent years following a series of strokes. Three years ago she was advised by doctors to any more speeches in public.

David Cameron, the new Conservative leader, said he was sorry to hear that his predecessor was unwell and wished her a swift recovery.

Lady Thatcher's daughter Carol, who, is still in Australia after winning the reality television programme I’m A Celebrity..! earlier this week, and her son Mark, who is apparently living in Europe, have both been informed.

Mrs Thatcher's dizzy spell comes after a torrid week for her family. Yesterday the BBC announced that the Thatchers will soon replace The Simpsons as television’s first family.

Jane Tranter, head of BBC drama commissioning, told The Times: “We are working on a major project to dramatise the life and premiership of Margaret Thatcher. It would be a multipart drama showing her rise as the first female party leader and encompassing events such as the poll tax and miners’ strike.

“The Eighties and Nineties are the new Victorian drama. Contemporary writers are now looking to this era and Thatcher’s influence is huge.”

Actors for the plum Thatcher roles have yet to be found for the project, which is still in the planning stages. Carol Thatcher is likely to be approached to help the producers with background material.

Lady Thatcher will first be portrayed in Coup!, a BBC Two comedy-drama about her son Sir Mark’s alleged involvement in an attempted coup in Equatorial Guinea.

Caroline Blakiston, who had the role of Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Alliance in Star Wars, plays Lady Thatcher.

Kika Markham, a member of the left-wing Redgrave dynasty, plays the former Prime Minister in The Line of Beauty, adapted by Andrew Davies from Alan Hollinghurst’s Booker prize-winning novel. It charts the trials of a young homosexual on the fringes of Tory high society.

There is a further Thatcher cameo in another BBC Two drama, Pinochet in Surrey, an account of the former Chilean dictator’s 1998 arrest in London, which will star Derek Jacobi. Two films from Stephen Poliakoff are set during the Thatcher premiership.