# A Very English Scandal (2018)

> Liberal party leader Jeremy Thorpe scrambles to bury a secret relationship with a younger man in late 1960s Britain.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/68297

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 3
- Episode runtime: 60 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: drama, history
- Created by: Russell T Davies, John Preston
- Network: BBC One
- Cast: Hugh Grant, Ben Whishaw, Alex Jennings, Monica Dolan, Jonathan Hyde, Blake Harrison, Paul Hilton, Jason Watkins
- TMDB rating: 7.6/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6938856/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: moderate
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: mild
- Tone: tense, melancholic, witty, sardonic

## What critics say

Critics broadly praised the miniseries as a gripping, well-acted retelling of a real political scandal, with strong lead performances and sharp scripting.

## Synopsis

A Very English Scandal (2018) is a British three-part miniseries created by Russell T Davies and John Preston for BBC One, a based-on-the-book dramatization of a political scandal. Hugh Grant plays Liberal party leader Jeremy Thorpe, a public figure whose career depends on hiding his relationship with a younger man, Norman Scott, played by Ben Whishaw. Alex Jennings plays Peter Bessell, a close political ally whose loyalty is tested as the secret grows harder to contain. Monica Dolan plays Marion Thorpe, the wife caught between appearances and private truths. The engine of the story is concealment: each episode turns on a new attempt to manage the press, the courts, and party colleagues while the threat of exposure tightens. Set in late 1960s Britain, just after homosexuality was legalised, the drama traces how fragile that new freedom was for men who still had to hide their lives. The tone is sharp, tense and quietly melancholic, with dry British wit undercutting the mounting dread. Its three hour-long episodes form a single continuous arc with a tight, authoritative shape. Fans of The Crown, Chernobyl and Bodyguard will find resonance in its prestige British period storytelling and its portrait of powerful institutions shaken by private secrets.

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