A very English Scandal

He was found not guilty paddyann

why on earth would anyone feel sorry for Thorpe / I personally now men who were and are gay in those years ..some married and had families ,some were discreet and had gay relaionships.Some were just themselves.NONE of them tried to get a former lover murdered .In doing so thorpe showed his true colours ,a weasel of a man who only thought about himself .
for "British justice" what a farce !

omitted a 'which' in above post

I have set it to record mostlyh.

It was excellent but I found that it was the rather jaunty music jarred with the seriousness of the subject.

Whilst I still think this was not the serious drama it could have been, it was certainly an acting tour de force. Ben Wishaw was amazing as Norman Scott, and Hugh Grant was quite simply stunning. What was so impressive also was the incredibly high quality of the supporting cast - Adrian Scarborough as George Carman, David Bamber as Lord Arran, Alex Jennings as Peter Bessell, etc. - all outstandingly good.

How sad that the enlightened times we now (thank heavens) live in didn't come so much sooner.

There’s an old BBC documentary about the Thorpe scandal on tonight at ten o’clock BBC4. Recorded 40 years ago but never shown before.
Might be interesting.

I was shocked and upset when this all emerged Grandma70s - however, I don't remember Thorpe, as a human rights supporter, campaigning for the legalisation of homosexuality.
What a strain it must have been for him and so many others who were in the public eye to have to deny their true selves because of the law and attitudes of the time - perhaps his ambition was greater than his moral courage.

Has anyone read the interview (Mail on line 6th May) with Norman Scott, and his take on the drama, for which apparently he had some input. Very enlightening.....

I don't exactly feel sorry for Thorpe. I doubt if he needed my pity. I do feel angry, though, that a first-rate politician saw his career being potentially ruined by a sexual indiscretion, because of the backward law and backward social attitudes. Because he was extremely ambitious, he was apparently driven to extremes - and none of it would have needed to happen had society and the law been just a little further advanced. What a waste of talent.

I don’t like to see this tragedy treated almost as a joke. Obviously it had farcical elements., but amusing it was not.

Interview with Norman Scott on the BBC website.
The murderer may not be dead but living under a false name.
Why the cover-up?
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-44336859

Paddyann wrote:

Do you still all believe that the paedophile scandal in Westminster has no foundation? The scene where the statement by Norman Scott was passed upwards and then put into a safe by MI5 was very telling.Did Teresa May REALLY lose all the details of paedophiles in Westminster or is she, like they did back then just covering their tracks ?

This is why the story is relevant today even taking into consideration that homosexuality is now okay. The story is more than a real life whodunnit.

I totally agree with you Eloethan couldn’t have put it better

I don't think the power relationship between Scott and Thorpe could possibly be seen as having been on an equal footing.

Sexual predators target people who are very obviously vulnerable. In this particular case, Norman Scott was very young - only 20 years old - when he met Jeremy Thorpe. He was doing a fairly low status, low paid job and relied on his job for somewhere to live. The first episode also referenced his mental health problems when he said he was taking largactyl. If the depiction of NS is correct - and I assume the writer/programme makers have made at least some attempt to research the issue of his character - he also appeared to be extremely naive and emotionally/intellectually vulnerable.

Whether or not JT charmed, bullied, tricked or forced NS to have sex with him, is important but, as with many sexual allegations, difficult to prove. But surely the real issue is whether JT arranged to have him killed. The dog was shot - I presume how this was explained away in Court will be in the final episode tomorrow and the old documentary being shown on BBC 4 might be quite illuminating on these issues.

I think it was totally wrong that homosexuality was a criminal issue and I have every sympathy for those men (and women) who had to suppress their sexuality or live a double life. However, if it is true that JT did behave in the way portrayed, I do not feel sorry for him.

Eloethan do you have a link for the Tom Mangold report. I would like to read it. Sounds interesting.

Maw broom your so right. Gay use to mean just that in my younger days. Does anyone know how/why the word gay became adopted to refer to homosexual's?

The Jeremy Thorpe Scandal is on BBC 4 tomorrow at 10 pm. The write up in The I says:

"In 1979 reporter Tom Mangold led an investigation into the trial of Jeremy Thorpe for conspiracy to murder. Convinced that the former Liberal Party leader would be found guilty, a special post-trial programme was prepared but was scrapped for legal reasons when the jury absolved the defendants. Copies of Mangold's forensic unearthing of a cover-up were ordered to be destroyed but the reporter kept one and it's shown here in entirety."

Sounds interesting.

And it’s getting even worse now with the legal aid cuts which are deliberately designed by this sainted government of ours to deny access to justice to the poor. But then it’s their own fault they can’t afford it isn’t it?

It will be interesting to see the Panorama programme tomorrow ( I think). I think Justice in this country is a very movable feast and even more so when the victims are overwhelmingly working class or ‘not one of us’ - the number of cases which families have had to fight to get justice - and very often in the face of police cover up and corruption and protecting their own and/or the establishment should be a national disgrace but it isn’t.

Aaah Paddyann are you saying that this isn’t the same under any government ? Because in my experience it doesn’t matter who’s in power “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer” .

google the lost files,lost when Mrs May was Home secretary .Its FACT .The police know all about it but apparently the files were either lost or "unintentionally " destroyed and they were the details of a paedophile ring within the houses of Parliament .TBH I would expect nothing less of a tory than to protect their own ..its how it has always been.hence the inquality in the UK ...the rich get richer and the poor dont count .I'm out of this right wing led discussion .

I knew it wasn’t a documentary Grandma70s but I didn’t realise it was based on “actual” events .

The drama is only ‘based on’ a true story. It isn’t a documentary.

I think 'brave' is the operative word there Petra

I know the Krays are no more, but.......

Does anyone think that there is a production company brave enough to put a film together about Lord Robert Boothby and the Kray twins?
Maybe a step too far.

Well I watched the first episode ( because I like Hugh Grant) and quite enjoyed it. Will see the rest on catch up . I have heard of Jeremy Thorpe but I thought it was fiction and had no idea it was based on true events !