Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Claire Foy, Paul Bettany, Olwen May, Albertine Kotting McMillan, Julia Davis, Richard McCabe, Amanda Drew, Phoebe Nicholls, David Monteath, Mitchell Robertson, Sophia Myles, Don Gallagher, Camilla Rutherford, Sophie Ward, Daniel Burt, Miles Jupp, Timothy Renouf, Katherine Manners, Tim Steed, Nicholas Rowe, Oliver Chris, David Hargreaves, Jonathan Aris, Matt Ripley, Daniel Fearn, Freddie Lund, Alex Skarbek, Phoebe Farnham, Simon Thorp, Matthew Stagg, Lawrence Oswald.
A constant truth of society is that we all are in some ways culpable for giving the reason of celebrity constant and unabating interest; and we always find another reason to place another willing victim under the sharp intense gaze of the public eye, whilst finding astonishing ways in which to immediately tear them apart, to destroy them, whilst claiming in our defence that we do such a thing because the individual asks for it.
Hypocrisy is an asset it seems, and it one that is brought fully to the centre of attention by Sarah Phelps in the three-part television series A Very British Scandal.
There is no greater drama than that brought on by the hideous and the weak, and the hypocrisy of those that demand even greater access to its fallout, to the gossip, and the juicy morsels scavenged and torn apart with overbite and under values; and what a drama the so-called upper class like to inflict upon the nation when they don’t think anyone is watching, or when they think they being ignored.
What Sarah Phelps uncovers in her writing, and in the superb direction by Anne Sewitsky, is the national favourite pastime of scandal, of how we seem to take a side in something that really has nothing to do with us, in how we arrange our lives for the pleasure of the reveal, and with enormous satisfaction we hang our lives on the outcome.
Bringing together Claire Foy and Paul Bettany in the almost tragic roles of Margaret and Ian Campbell, the damaged Duke and Duchess of Argyll, is a masterstroke, the sheer pomposity and unlikeable nature of the two protagonists of the piece is captured with splendid detail by the actors and their supporting cast, not least the superb Sophia Myles as the scorned Louise Campbell, suffering under the indignity of the nickname Oui Oui, Richard McCabe as the father of Margaret Campbell, George Whigham, and Jonathan Aris as Judge Wheatley.
What use is the upper class except perhaps to entertain, to prove that no matter what the public are informed, they have more in common with the 99 percent than they care to admit; the difference is that we continue to give them room in our thoughts whilst they give none.
A Very British Scandal is mindful of the sense of dishonourable celebrity we have come to respect and venerate, and one that captures the feeling of duplicity of thought when those who think they are a breed apart are caught in the same very human acts of self-interest as the rest. Superb drama, sensationally written, undeniably well produced.
Ian D. Hall