Today, Prime Video shared the premiere date and official trailer for the historical British drama A Very British Scandal. The series will launch on the streaming service on April 22.
Written by Sarah Phelps (The Pale Horse, Dublin Murders), A Very British Scandal focuses on the divorce of the Duke (Paul Bettany) and Duchess of Argyll (Claire Foy), one of the most notorious, extraordinary, and brutal legal cases of the 20th century.
Famed for her charisma, beauty, and style, Margaret, Duchess of Argyll, dominated the front pages as a divorce featuring accusations of forgery, theft, violence, drug-taking, secret recording, bribery, and an explicit Polaroid picture all played out in the white-hot glare of the 1960s media.
A Very British Scandal turns this scandal inside out in order to explore the social and political climate of postwar Britain, looking at attitudes towards women and asking whether institutional misogyny was widespread at the time.
As her contemporaries, the press, and the judiciary sought to vilify her, Margaret kept her head held high with bravery and resilience, refusing to go quietly as she was betrayed by her friends and publicly shamed by a society that reveled in her fall from grace.
Produced by Blueprint Pictures, A Very British Scandal will be available on Prime Video in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Sony Pictures Television is the international distributor and brokered the deal with Amazon Studios.
The series also stars Julia Davis (Nighty Night, Gavin & Stacey) as Maureen, Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava, Amanda Drew (The Trial of Christine Keeler, Trust), Richard McCabe (Poldark, Harlots), Phoebe Nicholls (The Elephant Man, Fortitude), and Camilla Rutherford (Phantom Thread, Fleming).
Also on board are Timothy Renouf (Afterlife of the Party, The Laureate), Sophia Myles (A Discovery of Witches, Spooks), Sophie Ward (The Moonstone, Land Girls), Tim Steed (The Death of Stalin, Cruella), and Katherine Manners (Press, War & Peace).
Richard Goulding (The Crown, The Murders at White House Farm), Jonathan Aris (Sherlock, The Night Manager), Oliver Chris (Trying, King Charles III), Nicholas Rowe (Roadkill, Young Sherlock Holmes), and Miles Jupp (The Durrells, Rev.) star as well.
A Very British Scandal is directed by Anne Sewitsky and produced by Chris Ballantyne.
The executive producers are Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, Diarmuid McKeown, and Delyth Scudamore for Blueprint Pictures, Lucy Richer for the BBC, Sarah Phelps, Anne Sewitsky, Claire Foy, Kate Triggs, and Dominic Treadwell-Collins.
The series was commissioned by Piers Wenger, director of BBC Drama, and Charlotte Moore, BBC chief content officer.
A Very British Scandal’s three one-hour episodes are coming soon to BBC One and BBC iPlayer in the UK and will be available on Prime Video in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
Filming took place across the United Kingdom.
Mirko Parlevliet has been reporting on the entertainment industry since 1998 and founded Vital Thrills in 2018 to cover the latest news on streaming, movies, TV, and video games.