'A Very English Scandal', featuring a real tour de force by Hugh Grant. After only a few minutes, the word that sprang to mind while watching his performance as Jeremy Thorpe was 'lubricious'. Also well worthy of mention are Alex Jennings as Peter Bessell and Ben Whishaw as Norman Scott.
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Last edited by Nick Armstrong; 01-06-18, 21:42. -
I watched A Very English Scandal and laughed almost continuously throughout - especially at the "sexual encounters". Thorpe appears as a hollow man, interested in socially progressive issues only for his own advancement. I can't help thinking the script has been thought up as some kind of Whitehall farce. -
Very English Scandal... brilliantly brought off, if a bit colour-by-numbers.... magnetically-watchable Whishaw and Grant just perfect playing off each other.Last edited by Nick Armstrong; 01-06-18, 21:43.Comment
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... this is just splendid, a complete hoot.Originally posted by LMcD View Post
And let us not forget -
Lordy, how things have changed - and for the better - within one's own lifetime.
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Yes - watching the Thorpe/Scott story now, there is a desperately tragic awareness of how gay men had to behave to survive then - the lies, subterfuge, denials and panic, all forced upon them - let alone have a career, let alone a very prominent public one....Comment
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Originally posted by vinteuil View Post... this is just splendid, a complete hoot.
And let us not forget -
Lordy, how things have changed - and for the better - within one's own lifetime.
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Not all things have changed for the better by any means - humour least among them!Comment
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A Very English Scandal - BBC1
Been catching up recently with this and thought it merited a thread to itself.
I'm finding it a brilliant recreation of what I vaguely and impressionistically remember from news broadcasts during my schooldays. Hugh Grant is brilliant and uncanny as Thorpe - aided of course by the costume/make-up department, which make long shots of him look exactly like the Thorpe one remembers... (Grant seems to be going through a terrific purple patch at the moment - hilarious in Paddington 2, touching in Florence Foster Jenkins) - and Ben Whishaw equally good as the fragile and hapless Norman Scott.
What I especially like is the balance between the sinister and the farcical (some of the latter very funny indeed) - which is exactly the mix I remember from catching references to the saga in the news.... dead dogs and some bloke with a gun on Dartmoor, leader of the Liberal Party behind it all... what the hell's going on?! I remember thinking. The story as rendered in the series delivers just that mix, and the sense that it would all be utterly unbelievable... apart from the fact that it actually happened
Final episode this coming Sunday at 9pm (and then, talking of what actually happened, a documentary about the saga itself on BBC4 at 10pmLast edited by Nick Armstrong; 04-06-18, 13:13."...the isle is full of noises,
Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices..."
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Wonderfully acted! Actor Hugh Grant has taken on many of Thorpe's mannerisms.
I'm amazed that I can remember nearly all the names involved even Scott's dog Rinka that was shot. Newton the shooter of the dog was flying aircraft at a base less than 2 miles from where I am sitting now.Comment
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Hello there,
Thanks very much for the heads-up about the forthcoming documentary Caliban.
As for the show itself I heartily endorse what you've said particularly about Hugh Grant and Ben Whishaw (who I think is brilliant in this!) They certainly make the most of Russell T Davies' very clever and funny script.
Perhaps it is not everyone's cup of tea - but I am certainly enjoying it. Roll on Sunday !!
Best Wishes,
Tevot
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Agreed, Cali, I think it's brilliant, and as you say the balance between sinister and farcical beautifully captured - the real Norman Scott has been saying in interviews that it wasn't a bit funny, but then of course he would, and it was. Daniel Finkelstein wrote an excellent article the other day, going through some of the details and behind-the-scenes stuff (what Wilson and Heath, and MI5, knew at the time, etc.) and saying it was not only largely as depicted, but some bits were even more bizarre in real life (Scott tried to give Rinka mouth-to-mouth, apparently, the judge even more biased).
Being that bit older I remember it all very well indeed, and can even remember the Private Eye cover at the time of the trial (a crowd scene with lots of speech bubbles along the lines of "It's a bum rap"). I found myself sitting next to Thorpe (and Marion) at a concert at Snape Maltings in the late 80s (Perahia/ECO, Mozart). I did not attempt conversation. He was quite ill by this stage and very gaunt, but I do remember the quite intimidating stare of those dark eyes as I got up to let them slide past. I remember Petrushka saying he had a similar experience, was it at a Prom [? - if you're reading this. Pet
]. I only sat next to him for the first half - it was a last-minute booking, and my great aunt and an elderly female friend were in much better seats near the front. The friend was agog in the interval and insisted on changing seats, so I sat next to my aunt for the second half.
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I wholly share your collective enthusiasm for this wonderful production. The word that came to mind shortly after Hugh/Jeremy appeared on my TV screen was 'lubricious'.Comment
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Very much agree with the sentiments on this thread. Did the passing reference on the other thread (post #1) include this link to Peter Cook's biased judge sketch (complete) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kyos-M48B8U.
I'd not seen it before, but worth repeating the link here I suggest....Comment
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Looks like a good watch this then!Don’t cry for me
I go where music was born
J S Bach 1685-1750Comment
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Yes indeed, vinteuil posted the link. The actual judicial summing up almost, but not quite, defied parody. A different era.Originally posted by Cockney Sparrow View Post
I see from today's Times that Lord Carlisle says Emlyn Hooson is misrepresented....but, as the Liberal party is part of the joke in this story, it's difficult to take their protestations too seriously - Lembit Opik [
] also says Hooson is misrepresented.
Lubricious
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I was going to say its a pity they couldn't get Peter Cook to play the Judge and repeat his summing up, but you have (sort of) beaten me to it.Originally posted by Cockney Sparrow View Post
Peter Cook's parody of the summing up was given at the Secret Policeman's Ball, a Charity event to support Amnesty International. Apparently he was still writing the speech in the moments before going on stage and only came up with the description of Scott as a "self-confessed player of the pink oboe" at the last moment."I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance. Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone. The whole theory of modern education is radically unsound. Fortunately in England, at any rate, education produces no effect whatsoever. If it did, it would prove a serious danger to the upper classes, and probably lead to acts of violence in Grosvenor Square."
Lady Bracknell The importance of Being EarnestComment
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