A Very British Scandal

The new show "A Very British Scandal," starring Claire Foy, premieres Fri., April 22, on Amazon. It is about the true story of Margaret, the Duchess of ...

Then there comes a revolution, with the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Vietnam, Twiggy and the Profumo Affair, and she was standing on the crest of that wave.” In 1990, three years before her death aged 80, the duchess reminisced about her life to the Telegraph, saying: “I do not forget. Suspicious that his wife had been unfaithful, Campbell hired a locksmith to break into his wife’s private drawers while she was away in New York. According to sources in “Secret History: The Duchess and the Headless Man,” one was former Minister of Defense (and son-in-law of Winston Churchill) Duncan Sandys — based on the duchess’s statement that “the only Polaroid camera in the country at that time had been lent to the Ministry of Defense,” as well as the memory of one of her confidants. So the idea of not being looked at was anathema — until it came to the point where being looked at was punishment for being visible.” But it all came crashing down when Campbell used photos he had stolen of his wife “in flagrante” with another man to shame her in court during their 1962 divorce.

The true story behind A Very British Scandal, Amazon Prime's new series about the Scottish aristocrat and the scandalous divorce that rocked 1960s high ...

Not so in 1963: Margaret was dubbed the "Dirty Duchess" by the tabloids and received a scathing rebuke from the judge, who said "her attitude to the sanctity of marriage was what moderns would call “enlightened” but which in plain language was wholly immoral." For the rest of her life, Margaret made several unsuccessful attempts to recuperate her reputation and once again monetize her social standing. Before meeting Ian Campbell, the Duke of Argyll, on a train from Paris, Margaret was engaged to a Lehman Brothers banker, who—in what might have seemed a bit karmic—broke it off with her after meeting someone else. When he married Margaret in 1951, he was 48 (she was 39), twice-divorced, and had three children. After her coming out, Margaret was engaged to Charles Guy Fulke Greville, 7th Earl of Warwick, but broke it off after she fell instead for Charles Sweeny, scion of a wealthy American family. If one were to rattle off just a few of the most sensational society divorces in recent memory, the task would be quite easy.

Claire Foy and Paul Bettany star in what's essentially the second season of A Very English Scandal.

Bettany is so adept at playing a charmer who turns out to be a complete git, and Foy continues her run of playing beautiful women who have a reserve of strength that comes out when they get tested. Our Take: A Very British Scandal was written by Sarah Phelps, and the first episode sets up a couple of threads that will pay off in the next two episodes, when the Campbells’ marriage falls apart and the bitter divorce proceedings. Then again, the more we see of Ian, the more we understand. Given it’s the late 1940s at the time, Margaret’s embrace of her love of sex is an early example of how women became more liberated in the latter half of the 20th century. She offers to read their letters from school to the dog, when the older son says, “Dogs can’t understand what you say. Margaret divorces her current husband, and her Maureen Guinness (Julia Davis) invites her to what is basically a really classy sex party. Sixteen years earlier, the two of them meet on a train to Scotland. Both are married, and Campbell’s reputation precedes him, but there’s an undeniable chemistry between them. He takes her out to Invernay Castle, which he’ll inherit when the current Duke of Argyll, a daffy distant cousin, finally kicks the bucket. The Gist: In that car is Margaret Campbell (Claire Foy), the Duchess of Argyll. Photographers’ flash bulbs are going off. Even the time period is similar. He plans on passing the estate to his oldest son, leaving Margaret without a home when he passes. It even has a slightly different title.

Despite an excellent cast, there is almost no scandal to this Very British Scandal, which is a dull, lifeless retelling of an infamous 1963 divorce.

Unfortunately, A Very British Scandal is a dull, lifeless retelling that wants very badly to say something but—just like Anatomy of a Scandal—delivers little more than banal cruelty from the extremely wealth. But we’ve already seen Foy do all of this better, in the same ‘50s and ‘60s fashions, as a determined woman with a love of Scottish castles tangling with a feckless man with no discernible eyebrows in The Crown. And the comparisons to that show do this one no favors. Everyone talks a lot about her appetites (including her!) and her admirers and yet… Margaret is a rude liar and a manipulator, Ian is an abusive alcoholic and drug user. She is painted somewhat as a desperate woman who acts desperately, and there’s no mistaking Ian as anything other than a cold-hearted cad. Despite excellent casts and one (British Scandal) being based on a true story, neither series has lived up to this potential.

A Very British Scandal is an excellent three-part drama that looks into the messy divorce of the Duke and Duchess of Argyll. Will a second season happen?

Technically, A Very British Scandal is the second season of this miniseries. There don’t seem to be any plans to bring a second season just yet. Of course, now you’ve seen this, you’ll want to know if there’s going to be another season to come.