A Very English Scandal 

A Very English Scandal tells the story of an attempted murder of Norman Josiffe (later known as Norman Scott) by his ex-lover, Jeremy Thorpe MP. The story which only now, after Thorpe's death, can be told without the threat of him suing defamation of character.

The strongest suit of the mini-series is the acting, particularly on the part of its two stars, Hugh Grant and Ben Whishaw. Both give magnificent performances. Hugh Grant's Jeremy Thorpe is charming, highly intelligent, ruthless and manipulative. It is quite a contrast to the type of roles Grant usually gets cast in and it is really satisfying seeing him depart from his typecast. Ben Whishaw's Norman Josiffe is unstable, emotional and broken by the many hardships he has experienced.

Minor characters as every bit as compelling as Jeremy and Norman. Thorpe's friend and fellow Member of Parliament, always willing to help his friend in times of need. An intelligent and very scrupulous young woman tasked with retrieving a lost suitcase. An eccentric lord, who lets badgers into his house and is deeply concerned with the anti-gay legislation. A Liberal MP willing to do anything to destroy Thorpe and take his place as the leader of the party. A man tasked with killing Norman, who is anything but professional. A pub owner, who gives Norman not only a job, but also friendship and support. It feels like each of these characters would make an interesting protagonist if a movie had been made about them instead of Thorpe and Josiffe.

It is quite a pity that the writing as a whole is not as good as these minor characters. Although the plot is quite compelling and it is hard to make any accusations concerning the events as the story really happened, there are moments where the construction of the mini-series seems to be missing something. This is most visible when the plot focuses on Thorpe and leaves Norman's side out only to jump forward in time and find him in a completely different place and situation that we've last seen him. Explaining such changes by the means of short dialogue is truly unsatisfying.

Another thing that needs to be mentioned is the music. Even though I usually don't pay much attention to the music - often I don't really notice it at all - in the mini-series it is used so cleverly that in a number of scenes I had to applaud the director's choices in the matter. It really feels like the music is an integral part of the production, sometimes underlining characters' emotions and sometimes acting almost as a kind of comic relief in this pretty sad story.

In general, the mini-series is a solid piece of television telling an interesting story. The acting and the production are high quality, as can be expected from the BBC. The writing could have been better, as the plot often takes big leaps which are then only briefly mentioned in the dialogie. Sadly, this takes away some of the characters' believability and makes the pacing quite uneven.