A Very English Scandal/The Bridge
I enjoyed all three episodes of the A Very English Scandal. Not only did the cast act with great authority they bore a close resemblance physically to the characters they played. Hugh Grant had all the arrogant jauntiness of Jeremy Thorpe but revealed subtly also how in a right corner he lost his moral compass. It was not a question of what he did but how he could extricate himself. I only had a couple of reservations: it was treated more as comedy and it had the description of “based on a true history” which precedes many a film too.
Although an an extraordinary affaire with its humorous elements, for example that one of the defendants was called John Le Mesurier leading to jokes because of the comic actor of the same name, the fact that a leader of party was involved in such a scandal is no laughing matter. I remember a member of our family, Andrew, was qualifying at the time of the trial as a solicitor and, requiring extra tuition for his law finals, went to a barrister.
We asked Andrew for the opinion of the barrister whether Thorpe would be found guilty. He replied that the connection of Thorpe was too tentative and was comparable to Henry II’s reference to Thomas Becket: “Who will rid me of this troublesome priest?”
His view therefore was that Thorpe would be found innocent in a jury trial but he would be branded as a bugger.
This is more or less what transpired principally due to the brilliant destruction of the defence witnesses by George Carman QC, well observed by Adrian Scarborough.
Regarding “based on a true story”, did Carman really have a chat with Thorpe on picking up male rough trade? I doubt it as Carman was by reputation a discreet man so where is the evidence for this? Russell Davies the screenwriter likes to work in some sexual titillation.
I wish I could be as praise worthy of The Bridge but I’m finding this series hard going. There are too many characters, too many confusing plot lines and it’s grim and depressing.
In the fourth episode we witnessed a father killing his child. There are many scenes of people being attacked in underground car parks and too many sinister characters. Sofia Helin is brilliant as the detective with Asberger’s syndrome but this is not enough to redeem the series.
