Gillian Anderson’s mind-boggling self-restraint after being asked if she’d spoken to Margaret Thatcher before playing her deserves an award all its own

John Plunkett. Updated November 26th, 2025

Time to rewind the clock to 2021 and Gillian Anderson’s well-deserved Emmy win for playing Margaret Thatcher in The Crown.

Well, we’re rewinding, but the tweet that sent it viral is totally up to date, after @burritoprophet shared how they still thought about it.

i’ll never stop thinking about the reporter who, after gillian won her emmy for the crown, asked her if she had spoken to margaret thatcher about the role and forced gillian to be like “no i have not spoken to margaret”

— sam (@burritoprophet) November 25, 2025

And as if by magic, someone came back with a clip of the moment itself, and the incredible self-restraint shown by the estimable Anderson surely deserves an award all of its own.

rent free pic.twitter.com/9ivUJk3KIY https://t.co/pHP3hj1F4F

— lotte • nw: pluribus (@NFRMlGA) November 25, 2025

Extraordinary scenes. And just in case you were wondering (you definitely weren’t wondering), that was a full eight years after Thatcher died. Pretty sure they didn’t cast the Crown that early ….

And here are our favourite things people said about it.

shes nicer than me bc i wouldve laughed out loud and been like are you serious

— joely ⚢ (@charlesbreasts) November 25, 2025

you can just tell by the way she moves that she was trying so hard to hold herself together

— lotte • nw: pluribus (@NFRMlGA) November 25, 2025

I love you can tell when she starts to process what the journalist just said. She was mortified. pic.twitter.com/nHjlQR7aJD

— mer ✧ sapphic age gap slasher era (@venusafeather) November 25, 2025

god why am i embarrassed like i asked the question

— lili ★ (@scullydaughter) November 25, 2025

lowkey same like bring back doing research as an interviewer + this shouldnt even require research

— lotte • nw: pluribus (@NFRMlGA) November 25, 2025

How could she talk with Margret? lol

— Boo (@Boo19683730) November 25, 2025

she’s a medium

— lotte • nw: pluribus (@NFRMlGA) November 25, 2025

Maybe there was one in an old episode of the X-Files they could have got in touch with.

To conclude …

Body language is so funny. Look at her before and after the reporter asks this dumb ass question lol https://t.co/NrWZqoebLD pic.twitter.com/ea0Jdv2vdC

— Heck Johnson (@givemheck) November 25, 2025

Source @£NFRMlGA