We live in a world so digitalized that we almost forget the times when a scandal didn’t last as long as an Instagram story but until the newspaper ink dried. Which, for the record, could happen even after several years. A Very British Scandal, Sarah Phelps’ new anthology series available on TIMVision from 21 April, it tells precisely of this: of how a woman’s reputation has been mercilessly chewed and devoured by the press without proof or evidence, but only through doubt. The protagonist is Margaret Whigham that, well before Pamela Anderson and Britney Spears, she clashed with the out-of-control malice of the tabloids, ready to destroy the existence of a person in order to sell a few more copies. This is 1963, Margaret, which has the face of a Claire Foy – already protagonist of the first two seasons of The Crown – in a state of grace, she is a British socialite married to the Duke of Argyll Ian Campbell (the Vision of WandaVision Paul Bettany) which is literally annihilated when the newspapers publish some photos that portray her in intimate attitudes with an unidentified man.
The duke himself disseminated those photos who, after taking possession of the shots that saw his wife in good company, preferred to annihilate his reputation by selling the Polaroids to the press, along with the Duchess’s letters and private diaries. Humiliated and labeled by public opinion as “Dirty Duchess”dirty duchess, Margaret refuses to be silent, choosing to defend herself from the misogynistic and highly defamatory attacks that her husband has directed at her by laying the groundwork for what someone years later has called the “Divorce of the century”. The three episodes of A Very British Scandal – a real godsend for those who bite their tongue every time they come across a series of twelve sixty-minute episodes – dissects that scandal starting right from wedding of Margaret and Ian, showing the viewer that appearances can be deceiving and that the press often annihilates regardless, without asking too many questions. Among those pages on the Duchess, for example, there is no mention of Ian’s outbursts or alcohol and drug abuse, which the newspapers seem to paint with marked and immaculate virtuosity.
Hence Margaret’s attempts to defend her dignity both from her husband’s grim anger and from the front pages that have tarnished her name posting her nude photo in the company of a headless man. For the viewer of A Very British Scandal it seems impossible not to feel disgusted by the treatment given to Margaret and that the director Anne Sewitsky stages with measured detachment, representing how much the sex scandal that engulfed the Duchess of Argyll is not all that different from the one that affects everyone women who clash with revenge porn today that spreads like wildfire within the network. Although not all the joints are developed properly due to the limited number of episodes – such as Ian’s past during the Second World War – A Very British Scandal manages to involve the viewer not only for the topicality of the so-called “Argyll Case”, but also for the extraordinary performances of Foy and Bettany who, if they give us so much, are already in pole position for the nominations of the most important prizes, and due consideration.
Other stories of Vanity Fair that may interest you:
A Very British Scandal: the new adventure of Claire Foy
Claire Foy against sex scenes: “I feel exploited”
Paul Bettany: “My father’s secret”
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Source: Vanity Fair
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