A Very English Scandal

[zico]

A 3-part drama about the Jeremy Thorpe/Norman Scott entanglement, which has just finished on TV.
Stars Hugh Grant as Thorpe and Ben Whishaw ("Q" in James Bond) as Norman Scott.
The drama hedges its bets rather by describing itself as a story based on real-life events, so in other words, "we expect you to believe this is what actually happened, but you can't sue us if it turns out we got bits wrong".

Reasonably entertaining, and worth a watch for a view into a past world of different attitudes in the 60's and 70's. Hugh Grant is good at establishing Jeremy Thorpe's character as an entertaining and likeable sort of person, but isn't really stretched in the role.

The light and frothy score is a bit intrusive and a bit of a nuisance, and generally the whole thing is treated a bit too much like farce for my liking, as these were (allegedly?) serious events. There's one bit about the clueless hit-man which seems to be lifted straight from "I,Tonya" though it's possible that it actually happened the way it's shown.

As often, a lot of the implausible events in a drama are simply lifted straight from reality.

[AleisterCrowley]

I've got Auberon Waugh's account of the trial - 'The Last Word'- which is an interesting read!

[XFool]

All these decades later, who can forget that line: "Bunnies can (and will) go to France."?

[zico]

Peter Cook's excellent judge sketch, satirising the trail judge's summing up should be in the link below - if it works!

https://uk.video.search.yahoo.com/searc ... =12j8q1ahc

[PinkDalek]

Peter Cook's excellent judge sketch, satirising the trail judge's summing up should be in the link below - if it works!

https://uk.video.search.yahoo.com/searc ... =12j8q1ahc

This one at youtube includes a John Cleese intro and original footage:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=pla ... UrnTTJQQYg

This version says it is complete:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Kyos-M48B8U

[nimnarb]

Just saw a documentary with Tom Mangold about this affair..still on iplayer, one big almighty coverup. Worth seeing, as he has been sitting on this information for 40 years after the BBC told him and everyone else to destroy all records of what they were recording at the time....Tom didn't.

[AleisterCrowley]

A self-confessed player of the 'pink oboe'....

[PinkDalek]

A self-confessed player of the 'pink oboe'....

In case you didn’t watch one of the clips above, apparently Cook was looking for further words to describe the witness, in the changing rooms, and The Big Yin mentioned the oboe. Cook then added self-confessed on the way to the stage.

[AleisterCrowley]

Cantley QC's summing up as reported in Waugh's book is quite bizarre
"Interestingly' he prosecuted the last two persons to receive the death sentence in the UK, in '64