Claire Foy and Paul Bettany Team Up for ‘A Very British Scandal’ at Amazon

Claire Foy Paul Bettany
Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for InStyle; Neilson Barnard/Getty Images

After the success of A Very English Scandal, Amazon is going all in with A Very British Scandal starring Claire Foy (The Crown) and Paul Bettany (WandaVision).

The streamer announced that the team behind 2018’s hit that starred Hugh Grant and Ben Whishaw are looking to tackle a new scandal with three 60-minute episodes written by Sarah Phelps (Dublin Murders). A Very British Scandal follows the highly publicized divorce of the Duke and Duchess of Argyll, which is remembered as one of the most brutal legal cases of the time.

A charismatic beauty, the Duchess Margaret saturated the front pages as a divorcee, with headlines featuring accusations of everything from forgery, theft, and violence, to drug use, secret recording, bribery, and an explicit Polaroid photo. Playing out in the 1960s, this historical drama flips the famed scandal inside out to explore the social and political climate of post-war Britain.

A Very British Scandal will take a look at attitudes towards women and institutional misogyny and pose the question of whether it was widespread. Despite being vilified, Margaret kept her head held high as the public rejoiced in her fall from grace.

Duke and Duchess of Argyll

(Credit: Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

“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,” said Phelps in a statement to the press. “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.”

Filming for the limited series is set to begin later this year in the U.K. and additional casting will be announced at a later date, so stay tuned.

A Very British Scandal, TBA, Amazon Prime Video