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Telly addicts

A Very British Scandal - BBC1

223 replies

southeastdweller · 26/12/2021 19:18

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

OP posts:
IcedPurple · 28/12/2021 22:30

@YourenutsmiLord

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

She was not a nice person at all, at least going by this dramatisation, but in the end I did feel she was more sinned against than sinning.

StormyCornishSeas · 28/12/2021 22:34

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

Now you say it ... I totally get that Grin

TheresAStarmanWaitingInTheSky · 28/12/2021 22:34

I really enjoyed this the last 3 nights. I felt sorry for her at the end, the abuse she must have got. All the double standards at the time. Men were allowed to be unfaithful but women were not.
Haven't RTFT but presume her own children were in boarding school or somewhere, will have to Google, there wasn't much mention of them.

Laureatus · 28/12/2021 22:36

Have been so looking forward to this (every law student studies this case)! Really enjoying it. And there are some good Scottish voices with mild accents in it, which sound about right for the paw courts etc, we don't all sound like we're from Glasgow!

longwayoff · 28/12/2021 22:40

Just as a matter of interest Laureatus, what's modern opinion on the Judge's summing up? And the dodgy duke's double dealing?

Laureatus · 28/12/2021 22:41

@AntisocialJusticeWarrior Didn't know about elephant polo?! It's basically the only sport Scotland's been successful in for years! Tch'uh! 🤣

Laureatus · 28/12/2021 22:51

@longwayoff his'll probably tell you more than I could off the top of my head 🙂

www.lawscot.org.uk/members/journal/issues/vol-44-issue-07/the-argyll-charade/

AntisocialJusticeWarrior · 28/12/2021 23:19

@StormyCornishSeas

The Duchess' barrister looks like David Cameron
I think he played David Cameron in the Brexit drama.

That’s a good point about the age, I don’t think it made clear it was 12 years later, well at least I didn’t realise.

LadyEloise1 · 29/12/2021 00:06

@StormyCornishSeas
I too commented while watching with DD2 on how like David Cameron he looked too.

jamandmarmaladethesecondcoming · 29/12/2021 05:23

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g

My ear for accents was obviously right out! Thanks, *@Palavah*.

The other 'doctor' was a shady type.

the other 'Doctor' was just a drug dealer
MenopauseSucks · 29/12/2021 06:16

She never revealed the name of the 'Headless Man' or the use of 'V' in her diaries so has left us all guessing!
I was impressed that a lot of the men she supposedly had affairs with were actually homosexuals & she never outed them, as she might have done in her defence, as homosexuality was illegal at that time.

Binge watched it yesterday & yes, their marriage was a car crash waiting to happen.
I wonder how things would've turned out if the Duke had had some sort of psychological help after his time in a POW camp instead of booze & amphetamines.
And yes, I agree with the fall in the lift shaft maybe altering the Duchess's level of inhibitions.

longwayoff · 29/12/2021 06:55

Thanks Laureatus that was interesting. Thank the Lord I'm not titled, rich or married. And my name isnt Rumping, so grateful for that given the context.

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 29/12/2021 08:32

This is interesting. Article says that Lord Denning was asked to investigate who the headless man was, as the government was concerned Margaret might be a security risk if one of her lovers had confided secrets to her. One of the candidates was Churchill's ex-son-in-law, who was a Conservative MP and government minister. Denning concluded it wasn't him, having interviewed him and various other suspects, and also looked closely at handwriting on the photos. He came to a conclusion about who it was, which was reported to the PM, and the report was then sealed for 30 years. John Major reviewed it and decided it should remain sealed until 2063. Shock If that holds, I doubt I'll be around to read the reports when it's finally unsealed!

www.historyhit.com/duchess-of-argyll-divorce/

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 29/12/2021 09:05

@jamandmarmaladethesecondcoming, no, he was a qualified medical practitioner who worked with Alexander Fleming during the war. His name was Dr John Petro and he had many society clients in the late 50s and 60s. At that time he would have been able to prescribe many things which are illegal now, and many of his clients would have become dependent on them, just like the opiates crisis in the US now. A few years after the divorce case he fell on hard times and started flagrantly abusing the system by prescribing drugs to all and sundry, and he was prosecuted and struck off the medical register. His case was one of the reasons the UK government clamped down on drugs in the late 60s, for all the good that's done us.

[Amazing what five minutes on Google can throw up!]

sansucre · 29/12/2021 09:07

It wasn't just the forged letter that enraged the Duke, it was the simple fact he couldn't obtain any further money from the Duchess (and her father). Ian had married her for money, and when no more was forthcoming, he had to divorce her, much like he had his previous wives when their coffers also dried up. In Ian's eyes, Margaret (and probably women in general) were only as good as the money she could bring to the marriage.

Margaret's affairs were largely incidentally, and a means for him to divorce her, which he could do so once he had proof in the form of those photographs. Many of the supposed 88 lovers were gay men, and as homosexuality was still illegal at that time, Margaret didn't out them otherwise they would have faced persecution. I feel strongly that it was Margaret's enjoyment of sex that was on trial, rather than her adultery. The judgement rather delivered on this.

While neither were likeable people, it is easy to overlook that Margaret was a loyal friend to her Peter Combe and her other male 'walkers' and never told who the headless man was. Neither did she ever admit what 'v' meant. Imagine going through all this, having your sex life raked over by the courts, printed in the press all over the world and being vilified for enjoying sex, particularly oral sex. Yet she steadfastly refused to talk about any of it or betray others. To me, this shows a woman with at least a modicum of integrity, presence of mind and great discretion.

sansucre · 29/12/2021 09:16

@RampantIvy

I watched it all on iPlayer, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I don't understand why falling down a lift shaft should suddenly turn her into a nymphomaniac, as has been suggested in some of the articles I have read about her.
Nymphomaniac is just a name attributed to a woman who supposedly have excessive or uncontrollable sexual desire to try to shame her for enjoying sex. It's such a double-standard given men who shag around are called players and studs.

Apparently Margaret lost her sense of smell and taste as a result of the fall. I have read that it can lessen ones inhibitions, and lead to some indulging in riskier behaviour because their primal instinct have been muted.

Interestingly, Michael Hutchence also lost his sense of taste and smell after being punched/hitting his head on a kerb as he fell. Afetwards, he ended his relationship with Helena Christensen and took up with Paula Yates, became more 'wild', took more drugs, indulged in ever risky sexual pursuits which ultimately ended with his death.

longwayoff · 29/12/2021 09:24

Dr Petro was a famous over-prescriber, junkies (there were not so many in those days) queued to see him in droves.

gerardsbutler · 29/12/2021 09:38

@sansucre

It wasn't just the forged letter that enraged the Duke, it was the simple fact he couldn't obtain any further money from the Duchess (and her father). Ian had married her for money, and when no more was forthcoming, he had to divorce her, much like he had his previous wives when their coffers also dried up. In Ian's eyes, Margaret (and probably women in general) were only as good as the money she could bring to the marriage.

Margaret's affairs were largely incidentally, and a means for him to divorce her, which he could do so once he had proof in the form of those photographs. Many of the supposed 88 lovers were gay men, and as homosexuality was still illegal at that time, Margaret didn't out them otherwise they would have faced persecution. I feel strongly that it was Margaret's enjoyment of sex that was on trial, rather than her adultery. The judgement rather delivered on this.

While neither were likeable people, it is easy to overlook that Margaret was a loyal friend to her Peter Combe and her other male 'walkers' and never told who the headless man was. Neither did she ever admit what 'v' meant. Imagine going through all this, having your sex life raked over by the courts, printed in the press all over the world and being vilified for enjoying sex, particularly oral sex. Yet she steadfastly refused to talk about any of it or betray others. To me, this shows a woman with at least a modicum of integrity, presence of mind and great discretion.

So very well put. I agree with everything you’ve said.
AntisocialJusticeWarrior · 29/12/2021 09:56

The series I Hate Suzie starts with a photo of her in a similar position to Margaret being leaked, it’s obviously more explicit. The other man, who isn’t her husband, is also married but iirc she comes off worse. It’s fictional but felt quite realistic, it’s quite depressing to think not a lot has changed.

GoodPrincessWenceslas · 29/12/2021 10:11

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

Would that apply if the creditor had only just discovered that there was no security for the loan? It would have been great if her father had sued the Duke for the return of the loan. I thought that one consolation of the decision to continue contesting the divorce must have been that he didn't get the £250K he wanted to buy him off.

sansucre · 29/12/2021 10:14

As an aside, in Style & Beauty, there are often threads about looking polished and what to wear out for dinner/dates. To my mind, Margaret's wardrobe in this was a masterclass of polished and sensual dressing. All her clothes screamed 'touch me' as they were made from tactile fabrics and textures - silks, fur, fluffy cashmere with just a hint of flesh. Even the high-waisted trousers trousers were tailored to highlight her figure, yet nothing was skin tight or tarty. Possibly the best on-screen wardrobe I have seen for quite some time, and most certainly one I would happily wear.

absolutelynotfabulous · 29/12/2021 10:20

Haven't watched ep 3 yet but finding the story (and this thread) very interesting.

Can anyone recommend a decent account of Margaret's life (in book format)?

SchadenfreudePersonified · 29/12/2021 10:21

Margaret had beautiful dogs all her life , black mini poodles, she seemed to adore them so she couldn't have been that bad.

Grin Grin Grin

ExquisitelyDecorated · 29/12/2021 10:21

Yes, I thought her wardrobe was amazing. I watched Ep3 back to back with Ep4 of And Just Like That (SATC) yesterday. Usually I think the SATC women look pretty polished but they looked very cheaply dressed compared to Margaret.

SchadenfreudePersonified · 29/12/2021 10:31

@longwayoff

I know, its still medieval although I think the law may have changed regarding succession? But practice is something else. And marrying well is still high on the list. One wouldn't want to look too closely at what passes for acceptable practice in the aristo top 100. The royal family, for instance, is still in the 18c for all their social media and happy family snaps. Lop off a little bit of entitlement and we'll know all about it. New yacht your Maj? Oh, yes please Boris.
No - the laws haven't changed.

In fact, an exception to trans-identification is inheritance of a title. The House of Lords stood very firm on that.

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