A very English Scandal

paddyann Are you implying JT was a paedophile? There was no suggestion of that. Norman Scott was an adult in his early twenties at the time of their ‘affair’. He’s the same age as me. Of course, a relationship between any males was illegal at the time, absurdly.

Jalima1108 Some homosexual men had happy marriages to women, though no doubt many didn’t, but how appalling that they should feel it to be necessary.

I remember the events, too, and I remember seeing JT and his lovely second wife Marion. (I wasn’t impressed with the portrayal of Marion last night.) I didn’t feel disappointed in him, though obviously I was shocked by the way things happened. I felt angry at society, still do but am very glad things have changed.

Mrs May supposedly "lost" ALL the files with details of peadophiles who work IN Westminster and past members of parliament .Not just JT ....many from a variety of parties .Google it .

Jeremy Thorpe was very good MP, a good leader and a reformer - but a flawed character who will always be remember for this scandal.

The women were victims of the laws of the time too Grandma70s - many homosexual men married as a 'cover' and consequently made their wives' lives a misery.

I do remember when it all unfolded and how disappointed I was in JT as I was always a Liberal voter.

Hugh Grant is playing an excellent part and all the acting is good.

The 'floppy rom-com' parts he portrayed were, of course, well acted too, as they would seem to be nothing like the real Hugh Grant.
The part he played in Paddington 2 was a brilliant send-up - a different film altogether, of course, but excellent.

JT was leader of the Liberal Party.

Annodomini you have completely misread my post I have not in anyway said there is anything farcical about Grants portrayal in fact if you read my previous posts you will see I was praising him and the drama I also lived through the real event and know as well as you that there was nothing farcical about the actual events....... but I do feel last nights ‘killer’ scene became a bit silly and obviously it was to others as they have answered my post too

I m not belittling the real life story, the acting or the drama just that ‘killer’ actor and that particular scene which seemed a bit slapstick

the same men are still there Varian they just cover their tracks better or get Ms May to "lose" the details of their crimes
That's a rather strange remark as I don't believe that JT was a Tory

BlueBelle, when the affair came to light during the trial period, the impression was that it was indeed 'farcical', unbelievable though it may seem at this distance. There is nothing farcical about Hugh Grant's portrayal of Thorpe as an unscrupulous politician fighting for his career.

Thorpe (and Scott to a lesser extent) were victims of the backward anti-gay laws of the early 60s and equally backward social attitudes. All this subterfuge shouldn’t have been necessary. This hasn’t been made clear enough so far. I feel sorry for them.

I agree there's a whiff of 'Carry on' films or Ealing comedies about it. It was a nasty business.

I am totally with you gulligranny I am finding it difficult to take this drama seriously, when in RL the whole affair was extremely unpleasant, sordid and exploitative. The music is indeed jolly and drama is being played out as a farce, and hard not to laugh out loud at the attempted murder scene. Very disappointing in my view.

Ha Ha, BlueBelle. That's who I was thinking of as well.

I had to pop out with the dogs half way through. What happened to Norman's welsh girlfriend?

I didn’t like the ‘killer’ part I thought that became a bit farcical I was waiting for Reg Varney to pop up ( I think the killer reminded me of Blakey ) otherwise I m enjoying it but I didn’t think last night was as good as the first one

I was glued to episode two and thought it was great, OH agreed with me which is very rare theses days as most times we have to beg to differ. But music,what music? I also thought Hugh Grant’s portral of JT was brilliant and at times I even thought it was him!!!

I sat down to watch it tonight and dozed off during the catch up of the previous week's episode. I had better try again.

Excellent again tonight. I find myself feeling so sorry for Norman (very good acting from Ben Whishaw). And up popped the actress from Keeping Faith!

I didn't notice the music either.

I remember the original events well. I was an active member of a Young Liberal branch in Central London at the time. I think the Profumo scandal and the trial of Stephen Ward awakened us all to the sleazier side of the establishment. I knew about half a dozen people who were gay, men and women, although all were still in the closet.

I didn’t notice the music either - and forgot after the first five minutes or so that it was Hugh Grant too, so he must have been acting well. I always get embarrassed at love making scenes, they always feel too voyeuristic for me and it may not be perfectly correct, but on the whole it gave the feel of the age and how things were then. (Gosh, that makes me feel really old. Talking about history wot I’ve lived through!)

I completely missed/didn't notice the music, it must have been "background" music...

No I was busy following the story couldn’t even tell you if there was any music or not it made no impact on me at all Grandma70

I don’t know how anyone missed the music! There was so much of it, and all unnecessary and unsuitable. No idea what it was. Specially ‘composed’/constructed, I should think.

I didn’t even notice the music what was it ?

Yes, it was as the music that was wrong. It suggested a jaunty 1960s sitcom, whereas in fact the drama itself was (rightly) far from jaunty, and rather dark. Hugh Grant was astonishingly convincing as JT.

The biggest surprise was discovering Hugh Grant can act. He should do it more often.