Hilary Mantel attacks critics over BBC’s Margaret Thatcher story broadcast

Author makes spirited response to Mail on Sunday after corporation decides to air The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher on Radio 4’s Book at Bedtime

Read Hilary Mantel’s controversial short story

Hilary Mantel, left, has hit back at critics over the BBC’s decision to broadcast her story, The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher. Photograph: PA

Caroline Davies

Sunday 14 December 2014 - The Observer

Man Booker prize-winning author Hilary Mantel delivered a spirited attack on her critics after the BBC was condemned over plans to broadcast her “mischievous” short story on the imagined assassination of Margaret Thatcher.

Outraged Tory grandees had clamoured to denounce the announcement that the Wolf Hall author’s “twisted” fantasy, The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher, would feature in the coveted Book at Bedtime slot on Radio 4 in an article that appeared in the Mail on Sunday.

In a robust response, Mantel, who has twice won the Man Booker prize, claimed her work had been hijacked by BBC bashers. “I recognise that this latest nonsense from the Mail [on Sunday] is not about me or my work; it’s a skirmish in a war with the BBC,” she told the Guardian.

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