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A Very English Scandal

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Universal acclaim based on 17 Critic Reviews

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84

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A Very English Scandal

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A Very English Scandal

Series Details & Credits

Prime Video | BBC One | Release Date: May 20, 2018

Summary: The three-part BBC miniseries set in 1960-70s follows member of Parliament Jeremy Thorpe (Hugh Grant) as he seeks to permanently hide his affair with stableboy Norman Scott (Ben Whishaw) to protect his political career in Russell T Davies's adaptation of John Preston's book of the same name.

Genre(s): Comedy, Drama, Movie/Mini-Series

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Recent Episodes

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S1:E4. Episode 4
Air Date: April 4, 2019

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Metascore

84

Positive:

16

Mixed:

1

Negative:

0

Critic Reviews

100

RogerEbert.com Brian Tallerico

Jun 29, 2018

Season 1 Review: [Stephen Frears] does his best work in over a decade. ... He brings the absolute best out of Hugh Grant and Ben Whishaw, who give riveting performances in the telling of one of the U.K.’s most shocking political scandals. This is a must-see. Read full review

100

The Hollywood Reporter

Tim Goodman

Jun 25, 2018

Season 1 Review: One of the tightest and brightest and most sublime miniseries--running at a meager three hours, one hour per episode--that you're likely to see on television in 2018. ... Grant's performance is a tour-de-force. ... Whishaw is also fantastic in bringing multiple shades to his portrayal. Read full review

91

IndieWire Liz Shannon Miller

Jun 29, 2018

Season 1 Review: There’s a light touch to the material, but a deceptive one, as the wit of the script and charm of the performances mask the real pain and trauma within lives ruined by deception and bigotry. Read full review

80

The New York Times

Margaret Lyons

Jun 28, 2018

Season 1 Review: In an era of TV bloat, seeing “A Very English Scandal” choose zippiness over ponderousness is a blessing, but one that occasionally feels more like a compromise than a plan. Length aside, the rest of “English” is precise bordering on surgical. Read full review

80

Sioux City Journal

Bruce Miller

Jul 30, 2018

Season 1 Review: While Dotrice and others add dimension to the story, the miniseries’ success comes down to the two main characters. Grant is oily and confident; Whishaw is seductive and afraid. The combination is combustible and quite watchable when the two appear in court together. Read full review

80

Collider Allison Keene

Jun 29, 2018

Season 1 Review: Davies’ script is light and witty, and Frears doubles down on jokes by often both showing and telling, to fantastic effect. ... Thorpe is thoughtful and careful, with Hugh Grant as inscrutably charming as ever. Read full review

58

Boston Herald

Mark A. Perigard

Jun 29, 2018

Season 1 Review: [A Very English Scandal] never settles on a tone. One moment, it’s delivering sly, savage moments worthy of Ricky Gervais’ “The Office.” Then it becomes earthquake serious as one heterosexual politician reveals why he wants to decriminalize homosexuality. Read full review

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Mixed:

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Negative:

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User Reviews

7

amheretojudge

Jul 18, 2019

Grant and Whishaw always see eye to eye and that is why them going against each other seems so unreal in this realistic drama.

A Very English Scandal The writers Russell T. Davies and the director Stephen Frears are breathing sense into the actions of the most prestigious people fumblingGrant and Whishaw always see eye to eye and that is why them going against each other seems so unreal in this realistic drama.

A Very English Scandal

The writers Russell T. Davies and the director Stephen Frears are breathing sense into the actions of the most prestigious people fumbling and making mistakes from the most privileged position. Personally, I don't follow the love and obsession over biographies- no matter how productive they have turned out for me over the years- and hence I loved this adaptation of John Preston's book of the same name, since it never, even for a split second, makes you realise that all of it was real. Usually, when a textbook structure as such, for a courtroom drama, is executed, you aren't particularly impressed with it, but I think Frears tricked us in here. While watching a film as such, your muscle-memory-alike inner voice sends you the signal that it is a seen-this-seen-that film, "film", fiction film and not some true story.

And I think it is really important to dive in with your first instinct for it gives you endless possibilities and hold on to the loose end of the thread with some hope. The humor is not only surprising but ironical. Not an irony that traces smartness in characters but mocks the absurdity of the situation that they so amateurishly and perpetually put themselves in. The writer Davies is using the state of the position wisely.

From budding the comical sense into the narration to opinions and directions that leads them believing into bizarre stories, the sensitivity of the position that they are in is always kept priority uno. And not by differentiating the timeline and their ideology that was present at the moment, all the fears are emerged from going awry, off the track, "unofficial" as they put it so queerily. And maybe this is how I think Frears balances the series perfectly between these two gentlemen. If Ben Wishaw has a more empathetic role to embody and his performance is increasing his points too, Grant has got the edginess to draw you in, you are bound to be attracted to the ambiguity of his nature in A Very English Scandal.… Expand

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Seasons & Episodes

84

Series Overview
Season 1

84
- Season 1 Overview
  Air Date: May 20, 2018
- tbd
  S1:E4. Episode 4
  Air Date: April 4, 2019