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A Very English Scandal (Review)
Which is a three-part miniseries written by Russell T. Davies and directed by Stephen Frears, starring Hugh Grant and Ben Wishaw, received with much critical enthusiasm when it was broadcast earlier this year, and currently out on DVD in my part of the world. If you’re a Whovian: RTD also brought Murray Gold with him as a composer (mind you, the soundtrack is quite unlike Gold’s Doctor Who tracks in that it’s jaunty and music-hall like, fitting the dark Ealing comedy tone of the miniseries), and there are some of the usual suspects in minor roles (like Eve Myles as Gwen in part II). Oh, and Alex Jennings who plays the most prominent supporting role, MP Peter Bissell, seems to have become specialized as a certain type of scheming toff, between playing King Leopold in ITV’s Victoria and the Duke of Windsor in The Crown, though Peter Bissell here has a bit more conscience than either.
A Very English Scandal is based on the Jeremy Thorpe affair, which marked the first time the leader of a major British party was on trial for a conspiracy to murder. (RTD can’t resist letting one character comment that given the history of British politics, this is really saying something.) Much like current politics, a lot of the circumstances are so bizarre that they defy satire (though Peter Cooke famously did a sketch based on the judge’s unbelievably biased summing-up to the jury), like the sheer incompetence of the would-be assassin, an off duty pilot. Like I said, overall the narrative tone is one of dark comedy a la Kind Hearts and Coronets, but the miniseries also interweaves the very real tragedies going with the kind of society where a closeted gay politician tries to have his former lover killed; in part I, for example, features an appearance of Lord Arran of „there are not many badgers in the House of Lords“ fame (played by David Bamber), which starts with the comedy (all the badgers in the house) but then gives Bamber the chance to go from funny guy to heartrendering crusader in a few moments when Arran reveals the reason why sponsoring the law to decriminalize homosexuality is so important for him. Also, for all the comedy, there is an underlying anger at the (not that historical) way the old boys network in politics, police forces and parts of the media serves to protect their own to the point where they literally get away with murder.
Both Hugh Grant (as Jeremy Thorpe) and Ben Wishaw (as Norman Scott) deliver great performances. Now I had seen Grant outside his stuttering Englishman rom com persona before (early in his career as Clive in Maurice, and also later playing a heartless cad in An Awfully Big Adventure), so it didn’t surprise me he has some variety, but even so, this is easily the best performance I’ve watched him do. One of the most outstanding moments for me was a silent one on his part, which comes in the third episode, when after an old letter of his to Norman Scott has been published his wife Marian (played by Monica Dolan) points out that while everyone fixates on the nickname „bunnies“ in the letter, what struck her was the „P.S. I miss you“ and adds: „I think that is a wonderful thing to tell a friend“. Now Marian isn’t being naive here (earlier she cut Thorpe’s „so not gay!“ protests off with „I practically grew up with Benjamin Britten“, which is a great geeky „oh, please“ on the part of the script and also happens to be true), and in the scene it hits the audience at the same time it hits Thorpe what she’s signalling him here: that she understands and accepts him, that he doesn’t have to hide himself from here anymore. And in that moment, this character who otherwise is never bereft of a clever answer, whether in politics or in private, is utterly silent, you can see the professional mask slipping and melting as he absolutely has no idea how to handle this.
Ben Wishaw is equally good. The stakes are initially against his character – prone to burst into tears at any moment, throwing tantrums, messing up the one really well paying job he gets (as a model) due to his own faults -, but when, in the first episode, Thorpe tells his confidant Bissell that Norman should be easy to intimidate into silence, Bissell disagrees, pointing out that Norman Scott is able to do what neither of them dares, to live openly as a gay man in the face of all the ridicule and hate, and that he just might be more courageous than them all. By the time the third episode ends, the audience agrees, and he emerges as the hero of the tale. (Mind you, the casting poses one tiny problem; when Thorpe’s lawyer asks him in a rare moment why on earth he started a relationship with someone like Norman Scott to begin with, I was tempted to reply, well, given that he’s played by Ben Wishaw… )
In conclusion: very worth watching. I hear in the US it’s on Amazon Prime; not so in Germany, which is why I got the DVD.
A Very English Scandal is based on the Jeremy Thorpe affair, which marked the first time the leader of a major British party was on trial for a conspiracy to murder. (RTD can’t resist letting one character comment that given the history of British politics, this is really saying something.) Much like current politics, a lot of the circumstances are so bizarre that they defy satire (though Peter Cooke famously did a sketch based on the judge’s unbelievably biased summing-up to the jury), like the sheer incompetence of the would-be assassin, an off duty pilot. Like I said, overall the narrative tone is one of dark comedy a la Kind Hearts and Coronets, but the miniseries also interweaves the very real tragedies going with the kind of society where a closeted gay politician tries to have his former lover killed; in part I, for example, features an appearance of Lord Arran of „there are not many badgers in the House of Lords“ fame (played by David Bamber), which starts with the comedy (all the badgers in the house) but then gives Bamber the chance to go from funny guy to heartrendering crusader in a few moments when Arran reveals the reason why sponsoring the law to decriminalize homosexuality is so important for him. Also, for all the comedy, there is an underlying anger at the (not that historical) way the old boys network in politics, police forces and parts of the media serves to protect their own to the point where they literally get away with murder.
Both Hugh Grant (as Jeremy Thorpe) and Ben Wishaw (as Norman Scott) deliver great performances. Now I had seen Grant outside his stuttering Englishman rom com persona before (early in his career as Clive in Maurice, and also later playing a heartless cad in An Awfully Big Adventure), so it didn’t surprise me he has some variety, but even so, this is easily the best performance I’ve watched him do. One of the most outstanding moments for me was a silent one on his part, which comes in the third episode, when after an old letter of his to Norman Scott has been published his wife Marian (played by Monica Dolan) points out that while everyone fixates on the nickname „bunnies“ in the letter, what struck her was the „P.S. I miss you“ and adds: „I think that is a wonderful thing to tell a friend“. Now Marian isn’t being naive here (earlier she cut Thorpe’s „so not gay!“ protests off with „I practically grew up with Benjamin Britten“, which is a great geeky „oh, please“ on the part of the script and also happens to be true), and in the scene it hits the audience at the same time it hits Thorpe what she’s signalling him here: that she understands and accepts him, that he doesn’t have to hide himself from here anymore. And in that moment, this character who otherwise is never bereft of a clever answer, whether in politics or in private, is utterly silent, you can see the professional mask slipping and melting as he absolutely has no idea how to handle this.
Ben Wishaw is equally good. The stakes are initially against his character – prone to burst into tears at any moment, throwing tantrums, messing up the one really well paying job he gets (as a model) due to his own faults -, but when, in the first episode, Thorpe tells his confidant Bissell that Norman should be easy to intimidate into silence, Bissell disagrees, pointing out that Norman Scott is able to do what neither of them dares, to live openly as a gay man in the face of all the ridicule and hate, and that he just might be more courageous than them all. By the time the third episode ends, the audience agrees, and he emerges as the hero of the tale. (Mind you, the casting poses one tiny problem; when Thorpe’s lawyer asks him in a rare moment why on earth he started a relationship with someone like Norman Scott to begin with, I was tempted to reply, well, given that he’s played by Ben Wishaw… )
In conclusion: very worth watching. I hear in the US it’s on Amazon Prime; not so in Germany, which is why I got the DVD.
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Also very timely at the moment; we've been focused on Roe v. Wade going down if Trump's Supreme Court nominee is appointed, but gay rights are already under siege and it's only going to get worse.
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this is easily the best performance I’ve watched him do.
I hope it earns him a glorious second-act career as a character actor, because it was absolutely outstanding work.
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