6h48 PST 03/11/2021
in
Scott Roxborough
The ‘WandaVision’ star and the ‘Crown’ actress will play the Duke and Duchess of Argyll in the new season of the BBC / Amazon limited series entitled ‘A Very British Scandal’.
The crown actress Claire Foy and WandaVision star Paul Bettany signed up for headline A Very British Scandal, 2nd season of the BBC / Amazon Studios limited series A Very English Scandal, which reexamines the tabloid “scandals” of the past.
Bettany and Foy will play the duke and duchess of Argyll, a high society couple whose public divorce was a tabloid sensation in Britain in the 1960s. Famous for her charisma, beauty and style, Margaret, Duchess of Argyll, was vilified by the press, accused of forgery, theft, violence and drug abuse, with media coverage at the time centering on an explicit polaroid image.
Sarah Phelps is writing the script for the limited three-part series, which Anne Sewitsky (Happy happy) will target. Filming is scheduled to begin in the UK later this year.
“Writing the life story of Margaret and the events that culminated in her divorce from the duke has been a passionate project for me since 1993, when I first heard her name and started to learn about her,” said Phelps in a statement. “I felt very strongly that she had been punished for being a woman, for being visible, for refusing to back off, being a good girl and taking it easy. This drama is my tribute to her.”
“I am very excited to work with Anne, Sarah and Paul on this extraordinary project and to explore through this story, how many times shame, judgment and controversy surround a woman’s sexuality,” said Foy.
Bettany added that he was “delighted to be working with the remarkable Claire Foy to tell the fascinating and scandalous story of the Duke and Duchess of Argyll and their complicated lives”.
The 3-part series will premiere on BBC One and BBC iPlayer in the United Kingdom and will be available on Amazon Prime Video in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Sony Pictures Television is handling international sales of the series and has negotiated the deal with Amazon Studios. Blueprint Pictures, supported by SPT, is producing the series.
A Very English Scandal (2018) starring Hugh Grant and Ben Whishaw and focused on British Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe (Grant), who was forced to go to trial in 1979, accused of conspiracy to murder his former gay lover (Whishaw).