Thatcher sells her TV memoirs to the BBC

BARONESS THATCHER has signed a deal for a series of four television programmes recounting her 11 years in power, to be broadcast by the BBC next year when her memoirs are published.

The contract has been signed with Fine Art Productions, a small independent production company run by Denis Blakeway and Hugh Scully, who was a well- known face on the BBC television series Antiques Roadshow. They beat at least four rivals for access to the former prime minister's memoirs.

Mr Scully said yesterday: 'I cannot say how much we are going to pay her for it. I have signed a confidentiality clause about that but all I would say is that it is remarkably reasonable. She is not doing it because she wants to make money.'

Transmission dates have yet to be fixed but Mr Scully said that the series would coincide with the publication of Lady Thatcher's autobiography. The programmes will also be sold abroad.

Lady Thatcher has signed a deal for her book with HarperCollins said to be worth more than pounds 3.5m. Fine Art Productions has had talks with HarperCollins about ensuring that the two projects runparallel. The publishers did not contribute money to the television deal, but Mr Scully and his colleagues will have access to the book as well as Lady Thatcher's private papers.

So far she has written 10 chapters out of 30. Lady Thatcher will be interviewed over several days for the series. The interviewer has not yet been chosen.

Mr Scully said he hoped that the series will reveal for the first time the full story of how she lost the Conservative Party leadership. The interviews with Lady Thatcher will be interlaced with library film footage and interviews with leading political figures from her time in office, including Ronald Reagan, Mikhail Gorbachev, Francois Mitterrand, Helmut Kohl and Jacques Delors. Mr Scully said: 'She has agreed entirely that we will want to interview her political foes as well as her friends.'

He added: 'I am delighted because it is a major opportunity for a small production company.'

Puppet row, page 2