WandaVision’s Paul Bettany and The Crown’s Claire Foy are set to star in the second season of the BBC/Amazon series, A Very British Scandal. The limited series re-examines tabloid scandals of the past. The first season, A Very English Scandal, starred Hugh Grant and Ben Whishaw and covered the Jeremy Thorpe scandal, including more than 15 years of events leading up to it.
Season 2 of A Very British Scandal will be centered on the Duke (Paul Bettany) and Duchess (Claire Foy) of Argyll, a high-society couple whose very public divorce was a tabloid sensation of 1960s Britain. Famed for her charisma, beauty, and style, Margaret, Duchess of Argyll, found herself vilified by the press, accused of forgery, theft, violence, and drug abuse, with media coverage at the time centering an explicit polaroid picture.
The three-part limited series will be penned by Sarah Phelps and directed by Happy Hour’s Anne Sewitsky. Shooting is set to begin in the U.K. later this year.
Phelps shared in a press release:
"Writing the story of Margaret’s life and the events leading up to and including her divorce from the Duke has been a passion project of mine since 1993 when I first heard her name and started learning about her. I felt very strongly that she’d been punished for being a woman, for being visible, for refusing to back down, be a good girl and go quietly. This drama is my tribute to her."
The 3-part series will premiere on BBC One and BBC iPlayer in the U.K. and be available on Amazon Prime Video in the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Sony Pictures Television is handling international sales for the series and brokered the deal with Amazon Studios. SPT-backed Blueprint Pictures are producing the series. The first series A Very English Scandal is currently available on BBC iPlayer.
