Becoming The Iron Lady

From the mannerisms and stiff-upper lip to that perfectly styled coif, Gillian Anderson’s portrayal of Margaret Thatcher is spot on in The Crown

- Nici De Wet

She spent hours preparing every day, getting that trademark helmet of hair just right, fleshing out her angular frame with a fat suit and plastering on the pancake makeup so she could look as close to the Iron Lady as possible.

And it clearly paid off. Gillian Anderson’s portrayal of Margaret Thatcher in season 4 of The Crown has earned her the highest praise. “Brilliant”, “viscerally physical” and “devastatingly precise” are some of the accolades being heaped on her performance by the critics.

One thing’s for sure: although this season of the hit Netflix streaming show has unleashed a hornet’s nest of controversy for taking liberal artistic licence with the facts, Gillian’s Thatcher is pretty spot on.

Stepping into the sensible shoes of arguably England’s most formidable prime minister would be a daunting task for anyone – but the 52-year-old has nailed it. From Thatcher’s commanding voice to her trademark power suits, Gillian channels the leader who ruled the United Kingdom during the ’80s with an iron fist. With viewers singing her praises, it’s not surprising the actress is being touted as a favourite to win big at next year’s awards season.

“I’m already giving you the Emmy for this,” the usually cynical late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel told her when she was a guest on his show recently.