TV review no.7 - A Very English Scandal (2018)

A Very English Scandal - 2018

Rating - 15

Director - Stephen Frears 

Written by - Russell T. Davies

Starring - Hugh Grant, Ben Whishaw, Alex Jennings, Jason Watkins

A Very English Scandal is a 2018 drama miniseries based on the 2016 book of the same name by John Preston accounting the drama of the Thorpe sex scandal during the mid-late 1970s. 

Jeremy Thorpe was an English politician, the Member of Parliament for North Devon from 1959 to 1979 and the leader of the Liberal Party from 1967 ‘til his resignation in 1976. In 1961, he met and began a secret relationship with Norman Scott (formerly known as Norman Josiffe), a stable hand, at a time when homosexuality was illegal. In 1965, after they’d split, Thorpe’s career was in danger when Scott threatened to expose love letters and documents to the police but was kept quiet by frequent payments from fellow Liberal MP Peter Bessell. This was successful until 1975 when Scott yet again attempted to expose Thorpe. When any attempts to silence Scott failed, Thorpe made an ill-fated plan to hire a hitman to kill him. The hitman in question accidentally shot Scott’s dog instead. The series’ main point of interest though is the following court case in which Thorpe was accused of attempted murder. 

In this dramatisation, Jeremy Thorpe is portrayed by Hugh Grant and Norman Scott is portrayed by Ben Whishaw. The real Jeremy Thorpe died in 2014, nine months after his wife Marion. But Norman Scott is still alive and appears in the end credits of the final episode. Though Scott was rather critical of his portrayal in the series, saying to the Irish Times “Artistic license is fine but this isn’t my story. I’m portrayed as this poor, mincing, little gay person... I also come across as a weakling and I’ve never been a weakling”. 

Though I understand Scott’s disapproval of the show, I (and many other viewers) still enjoyed this twisted, absorbing take on a rather dark story with some elements of dark humour throughout.

Score - 9/10

A Very English Scandal is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.