This movie made the UK seem like a very unhappy place.

We see images of garbage left in the streets to rot, power outages and bombings. Was it really all that bad? Was the UK really so doom and gloom in the 1980’s?

Apart from certain terrorist bombings (notably the Brighton bombing, which was the attempt to assassinate Thatcher), pretty much all of the incidents you refer to from the film occurred in the 70s, not the 80s: i.e. before Thatcher became Prime Minister. Airey Neave's assassination (the car park bomb) was in 1979.

I don't want to overplay it, as it definitely wasn't all "doom and gloom", but much of the 70s - particularly for people in the inner-cities - can look pretty bleak with hindsight when compared with today. Heath's Government really did see strikes, power cuts and the three-day week (factories were only allowed to consume electricity on three consecutive days to conserve resourses). In 1979, the Labour Government has to cope with the "Winter of Discontent", which helped bring Thatcher to power. The whole decade was noted for high inflation (one of the main things Thatcher targetted).
Terrorism in the 70s were pretty bad with several assassinations, the Guildford and Birmingham pub bombings (see "In the Name of the Father") and at one point even running gunfights through London streets. Even in the late 80s, I remember visiting London and my first experience of the Underground was that it was closed due to a bomb scare (I personally experienced a number of bomb scares around the country during the 80s and early 90s).

The 70s in the UK were also noted for bored, disaffected youth: that's what led to Punk Rock.

The 80s were (or, at any rate, were perceived to be) more polarized. Indeed, one of the accusations often made against Thatcher is that she caused huge divisions in society. At one extreme there was the yuppie boom, rivers of cash flowing into the City of London and tales of wild excess, while at the other end there was mass unemployment (over 50% in some localized pockets), strikes, poverty and street riots.
There were many happy times of course - even in the 70s, the Queen's Silver Jubilee was celibrated with street parties, for example. However, it often depended on where you looked...

I took it as they left the garbage by the parliament or whatever to show their disapproval of the political decisions being made and climate at that time, not that they didnt have anywhere else to put it, if you refer to that scene where she walks out of a building and people are leaving garbage bags on the pavements and it smells *beep*

I was a teenager in England in the 80s and life was good for us. Of course you heard on the news about miners' stikes and IRA attacks etc occasionally, but none of that affected most people directly. I certainly wouldn't say it was generally a depressing place though.

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This is a movie about a controversial politician. What did you expect?

Couples strolling along beaches?

How on earth can a 105 minute film about a Prime Minister show the British public enjoying themselves, and still stay relevant?

The bombings were due to the IRA. Google them.

The negative images of the UK are simply showing a small number of reasons why MT came under criticism in her political career.

The refuse collectors went on strike and it was documented in the news. But it lasted only WEEKS.

"Champagne for my real friends, and real pain for my sham friends..."

'Was the UK really so doom and gloom in the 1980’s? '

In the 1980s under President Reagan, the USA had:

Bob Hope
Johnny Cash
Stevie Wonder

Under Mrs Thatcher, the UK had:

No Hope
No Cash
and no bloody wonder!


It's that man again!!