Andrew Marr's History of Modern Britain

The second programme in the series explodes the popular image of the 1950s as a golden age of order and prosperity, and of lost content. A Conservative government is back in power. The economy appears to be improving. New homes are being built, the age of mass car ownership is dawning and people have money in their pockets. But 1950s Britain isn't as calm as it looks, or as strong. « read less

Andrew Marr revisits the Britain of Margaret Thatcher and comes to some surprising conclusions about the British national character. Promising to restore order, confidence and national pride, Margaret Thatcher unleashed a dramatic and divisive transformation of British society. In a period of extreme ideological polarisation, British identity was re-defined by the global market, and striking miners and sections of the Trade Union movement were demonised as the enemy within. Imperial visions stirred again as the fleet sailed for the Falklands. Having won power with the promise to restore traditional British values, the Thatcher government unleashed a whirlwind of privatisation and de-regulation that amounted to a cultural, economic and political revolution. Heroic national rescue operation or final act of self-destruction? « read less