A Very British Scandal - BBC1

[southeastdweller]

On tonight at 9.00, it stars Claire Foy and it's from the same people who did A Very English Scandal a few years ago.

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0b568sr

Worth a visit if you're ever in this neck of the woods.
www.inveraray-castle.com/

@IcedPurple, Diana and I were born in the same year and I can assure you that had she wanted to and had the aptitude and drive there is almost no career she couldn't have gone into after leaving school in the late 70s. Her family might have put obstacles in the way, true, but most jobs were open to women by then, with the notable exception of front line service in the armed forces.

I discovered via Goohle that Margaret was in her early 50s when the divorce case began. Not sure how I feel about the programme makers choosing a much younger actress...

Claire Foy born 1984, Paul Bettany born 1971.

Ian Campbell, 11th Duke of Argyll, born 1903, married Margaret Whigham, born 1912.

So the age gap is not too different.

Married 1951, divorced 1963. So he was 48 when they married and she was 39. He was 60 at the time of the divorce, she was 51.

That's very different, as you say, @Piggywaspushed. Claire Foy isn't 39 yet, so far younger than the Duchess at the time of the divorce.

There must be some charismatic and beautiful actors born in the early 70s who'd have been more realistic choices. Paul Bettany looks older than his age in this so not bothered about that casting.

Helena Bonham Carter is probably a touch too old now.

To make such a choice Gaspode, you have to be aware it's possible. Poverty of ambition is not limited to the ill educated working class and lack of education is not the sole property of the poor. A pass in needlework does not fit one for being a leader of industry. The Spencer girls were raised, like many of their peers, to be wives.

Yes there was a bit where her (mother? jellyfish friend? I wasn't paying attention at the start) saod oh your jawline is getting soft and you've got wrinkles I I was thinking, eh? then looked it up. Clare Foy is 37, Paul Bettany is 50. The real Duke turned 60 in 1963, the year when they divorced. Margaret married him when she was 39 and turned 51 in December 1963.

I know they wanted to span the time from when they first got together to when they got divorced but it is typical telly that they used a female actress younger than the youngest age they wanted to portray. Like properly middle aged people can't be attractive and have lots of illicit sex.

I think it changes her characterisation a lot, and responses to her. Age old problem of casting of women vs casting of men I guess. I assume they wanted Claire Foy for the role.

Rachel Weisz is the right age as it goes. And Kate Beckinsale.

@longwayoff

To make such a choice Gaspode, you have to be aware it's possible. Poverty of ambition is not limited to the ill educated working class and lack of education is not the sole property of the poor. A pass in needlework does not fit one for being a leader of industry. The Spencer girls were raised, like many of their peers, to be wives.

Yes, I suppose so. I come from a lower middle class background and money was tight when I was growing up, and yet I have always felt I had a far better education than Diana did. Her boarding school doesn't exist now but it had a few very successful alumnae, e.g Tilda Swinton, Annabel Croft. No doctors and scientists on the Wikipedia list, though.

[quote Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]@IcedPurple, Diana and I were born in the same year and I can assure you that had she wanted to and had the aptitude and drive there is almost no career she couldn't have gone into after leaving school in the late 70s. Her family might have put obstacles in the way, true, but most jobs were open to women by then, with the notable exception of front line service in the armed forces.[/quote]
Yes, of course there were no legal obstacles standing in the way of Diana pursuing a career.

However, that's not the world she grew up in. Like her sisters, she was raised with the sole aim of 'marrying well'. The fact that, by her own admission, she was 'thick as a plank', didn't help, but there was never any expectation that she aspire to anything other than marrying and having children.

Whereas nowadays, an aristocratic woman would likely seek out some kind of work before marriage. If Diana was young now, she'd maybe try to use her looks and height to carve out a modelling career, like so many posh gels these days, including her niece Lady Kitty Spencer.

Interesting discussion about casting a younger actress to play Margaret.

That sort of thing usually bothers me, especially when the man is the right age, but given that many of the events happened when Margaret was closer to Claire Foy's age, and that it's easier to 'age' an actor than it is to 'youthify' them, it doesn't bother me that much. Also, it's Claire Foy and she's fab!

That said, I don't think they did make much of an attempt to make her look like a woman in her 50s at the time of the divorce, which is kind of annoying. Because yes, in those days, a woman in her 50s would have very much been seen as 'old' and 'past it', and this would definitely have impacted on how she and her 'exploits' were perceived by the public.

Yes, and also passage of time is rendered very unclear. The title cards often say place but not time. Hair and even fashion looks the same. I think maybe the upper class didn't change dress code much.

Surely if Ian signed away someone elses property against a loan (from her father) thats fraud?

The Duchess' barrister looks like David Cameron

@Jellykat

Surely if Ian signed away someone elses property against a loan (from her father) thats fraud?

It is fraud. Called defrauding creditors and it is criminal. Can only think that the statute of limitations came into play because it was 15 years after the loan was given

Very well acted! but so sad.. enjoyed that.

I thought this was excellent. Paul Bettany and Claire Foy were terrific.

Found that interview 15 years later v. Interesting

Ah thanks Lazymum, what a true shit he was!....

The judges statement was awful, so misogynistic .

@lazymum99

The judges statement was awful, so misogynistic .

Three hours!!

it was so sad watching it.
claire foy character reminded me of lady lucan. similarly loads of money and very sad and awful marriages and kids involved and things like that (it's late and i'm not thinking properly)

@StormyCornishSeas

The Duchess' barrister looks like David Cameron

I knew the actor looked familiar and it annoyed me that I couldn't think who he was.

Then I remembered that he played Harry in "The Windsors"!

Yes, I've completely revised my initial opinion about this production, slow to raise my interest but once gripped, remained so. It's a sad commentary on how women were, and are, viewed by the Establishment. Little has changed, evolution passes them by.

The best part was seeing the actual Duchess interviewed in the future - she looked well and happy!
She outlived the Duke by 20 years.