The Opening Installment of 'Brian & Maggie' Feels Like an Illicit Affair

If you're looking to the new PBS drama Brian & Maggie for a history lesson, you're probably going to be disappointed. That's not a criticism, more of an attempt to set expectations. The latest in a string of prestige dramas that long for a moment when journalism had both genuine teeth and a desire to hold those in positions of power to account for their choices (see also: The Hack, A Very Royal Scandal), Brian & Maggie is nominally about the infamous 1989 television interview between broadcast journalist Brian Walden and U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher that helped bring about the end of her premiership.

It's also technically about a lot of other things: proximity to power, class politics, cross-aisle political camaraderie, and Thatcher herself, particularly her surprisingly warm relationship with Walden. That it struggles to balance those many competing priorities probably shouldn't surprise anyone, given that this whole drama is only two episodes long.

That the show wants to have something serious to say about journalism, politics, and the state of our public discourse is evident from its opening frames, as title cards declare the televised political interview "a vital part of our democracy" and praise the event it's about to dramatize as a seismic occurence that "made history". Nothing in the 47 or so minutes that follow earns this level of breathless pomposity; however, the script from series creator James Graham (Sherwood) delights in clunky, overly expository dialogue that emphasizes its own importance.