THE actor who played Britain’s ‘First Man’ in The Crown claimed Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her husband Denis were “not in love”.
Stephen Boxer played Denis Thatcher in season 4 of the Netflix drama making sensational claims that the high powered pair were not in love in the conventional sense.
The former Doctors actor told The Times the Iron Lady and Denis Thatcher were “not in love as I particularly have known it” but that “you cannot deny that it is love”.
Boxer explained that in their relationship there was “respect and interdependence” but it was “physically quite icy”.
The actor told the newspaper built his performance of Denis, based on the Thatcher biography written by her daughter, Carol Thatcher.
Born in London, Sir Denis married Thatcher in 1951 and would become the first male spouse of a prime minster when she was elected in 1979.
The portrayal of Thatcher in The Crown has divided viewers with some calling Gillian Anderson‘s performance “entertaining but ridiculous parody”.
Meanwhile American-British Gillian, who certainly looks the part in Mrs Thatcher-style blue suits, told how she let go of her “preconceived ideas” about the former politician.
She said: “I watched every video there was to be watched on her. Her manner, her religion, how she walked, talked and moved. Getting into that wig definitely helps.
“Never in my life would I wear the shoes she wore.
“But walking in the way I learned to walk as her, and in those shoes, just helped so much — and wearing the really uncomfortable nylon stockings she might have worn.
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“I swear they found them in the bottom of a box in a Salvation Army because I don’t think they make them any more.”
Mum of three Gillian added: “”It took quite some time to research her, a few months. I used to put in ear pods and listen to her interviews all day long.”
As the new series enters the Eighties, Gillian described the role of Mrs Thatcher as “a pleasure.”
Netflix released all 10 episodes of the fourth season of The Crown at 8am on November 15, 2020.