WITH another historic performance in the bag playing the long-suffering Denis Thatcher opposite Meryl Streep as our famous female prime minister, Jim Broadbent, left with Streep, has plenty to smile about.

That Broadbent is still as busy, if not busier, at 62 as he was at 32 is no great surprise, given he's one of Britain's most loved and versatile character actors, whose ability to play anything from a fearsome ringmaster in Moulin Rouge! to the eccentric Lord in Longford has won him two Baftas and an Oscar.

It's the husband of arguably Britain's most notorious Prime Minister that Broadbent plays in The Iron Lady, a film which is vying for the Oscar vote in January.

Denis, who died in 2003 aged 88, is shown as a figment of Margaret's imagination, which made the role more challenging for Broadbent.

Added to that was the fact Denis, often billed as the long-suffering husband, kept his cards close to his chest.

"He did one major interview," says Broadbent. "His daughter Carol interviewed him on television and she wrote the biography, so that was all there was to go on, apart from glimpses of him in the background."

In Margaret's flashbacks, viewers see her as a newly-selected parliamentary candidate, meeting the young Denis at an official function.

The Denis of Margaret's imaginings provides plenty of light relief throughout the film, making her smile by donning a turban.

"There is a view that he was playful, humorous and self-deprecating," says Broadbent.

"One of his lines was that it's better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool, than to open it and remove all doubt. And that sort of humour pervaded his personality."

As Meryl Streep has already been nominated for a Golden Globe, Broadbent adds: "She was extraordinary."