A Very English Scandal 2018

     This film is based on a true story known as the 1976-1979 Jeremy Thorpe scandal and also on a novel by John Preston.  During the time period of this film the Government in the UK banned homosexual affairs.  Liberal MP and later Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe meets 21-year-old stable boy Norman Scott and they begin a relationship.  Jeremy tries to keep everything secret but when they break up, Norman writes a letter to Jeremy’s mother and Jeremy still lives with his mother.  Jeremy also wrote many letters to Norman.  Jeremy thought none of this would ever become public even though the police had a copy on file of one of the letters?  What lets the cat out of the bag is Norman keeps asking Jeremy for his National Insurance card?  Without this card, Norman can’t receive public healthcare and financial assistance.

     Jeremy persuades some of his male friends to kill Normal so he won't bother him anymore.  He's going to pay them and they come of with a plan.  Everything goes wrong and the reason for this is that the men don’t have one good brain between all of them?  Norman learns he is in danger and he immediately reports the crime to the police.  He tells the authorities that he is convinced the plan was paid for and initiated by Jeremy Thorpe?  This is a very interesting plot and much of it goes into the “unbelievable” category but it is based on a true story?  3 ½* (I liked this series)     

TV Mini-Series, Bio, three hours in length, each episode one hour, written by Russell T. Davies and directed by Stephen Frears with Hugh Grant, Ben Whishaw, Alex Jennings, Patricia Hodge, Paul Hilton, Naomi Battrick, Andrew French, Morgan Watkins, Monica Dolan,m Jason Watkins, Blake Harrison, Alice Orr-Ewing, Flora Montgomery, Michele Dotrice, Nick Malinowski, Rhys Parry Jones, Dyfan Dwyfor, Caleb Roberts, Marianne Oldham, Arabella Neale.

Note:  Imdb 7.8 out of 10, Rotten Tomatoes 97% critic with 68 reviews, The Guardian 5* Lucy Mangan, Amazon 5* with 5 ratings, Letterboxd average 3.8*, Metacritic 84 out of 100 with 17 critics (16 positive, 1 mixed).

Special Note:  Ben Whishaw acts as the character Q in the James Bond Films Skyfall 2012, Spectre 2015 and No Time To Die (in post-production, expected release April 2020.  Filming takes place in London, Manchester, Buckinghamshire, Devon, Hertfordshire and South Wales.  Some scenes were filmed outside the Houses of Parliament.  Scenes of the inner courts, interior hallways and staircase were filmed at Manchester Town Hall since it was built in the same Gothic Revival style as the Palace of Westminster.