A Very English Scandal is captivating from beginning to end

RUN, don’t walk, towards this new TV show. Not only is it a thrilling, engrossing story of a shocking scandal, it features two amazing performances.

TO TRANSFORM from a foppish, albeit ageing, Casanova, to a real-life scandal-plagued politician, Hugh Grant, he of the Mickey Blue Eyes, had to wear dark contact lenses.

The effect is immediately menacing, lending Grant a sort of “beady, shark eyes” look — someone you instinctively don’t trust.

And you shouldn’t trust his character in A Very English Scandal — Jeremy Thorpe, a British political leader who was accused of ordering a hit on his gay lover in the 1970s.

The Thorpe scandal shocked the nation and the court case which followed exposed an ambitious politician, an incompetent assassination scheme and the ugly prejudice that allowed it to happen.

The three-part miniseries debuts this week on BBC First (available on Foxtel and Fetch) and it not only features a career-best performance from Grant, it pits him against the always talented and always watchable Ben Whishaw.

If you like the episodes of The Crown that focus on one particular historical event, like the one about The Profumo Affair, the great smog of 1952 or the instalment with Lord Altrincham, A Very English Scandal will tick a lot of boxes for you. Don’t walk, run to the TV and press play.

Otherwise, be assured that this a confident historical series packed with amazing performances, political intrigue and a propulsive story that’ll capture your attention from the first frame to the last.

Look at those beady shark eyes

When Thorpe first meets his lover Norman Josiffe (Whishaw) in 1961, he’s a star on the rise, a young pollie with verve and ideas. The meeting at a mutual friend’s country house turns into a messy affair and several damning letters with proclamations of love and devotion.

(Side note: When will people learn to not document illicit love affairs in writing?)

When things turn sour, and Thorpe cuts Norman off from the housing the older man has paid for, the tossed-aside party makes threats. Norman has little else going on, unable to hold down a job and without the National Insurance Card Thorpe has promised to replace.

Fearing exposure and the end of a promising career, Thorpe confides in colleague and ally Peter Bessell (The Crown’s Alex Jennings) his uncomfortable predicament, after Bessell confessed to having also indulged in some same-sex dalliances on occasion himself.

Over the next decade, each time Norman resurfaces, Thorpe (now married with a child) and Bessell talk about how to dispatch the “problem”. They talk about murder in detached, intellectual terms with a callous disregard for this person’s life.

Ben Whishaw also plays Q in the newer Bond movies

With his camp demeanour and open sexuality, especially after the decriminalisation of homosexuality in 1967, Norman is a threat to the old establishment.

He also doesn’t come from the same well-heeled background as Thorpe’s Eton-Oxford-Harrow path and the system, everyone from the cops to the media to the court, seeks to bludgeon and silence him. It’s the old world versus the new wave.

Because as much as A Very English Scandal, directed by Stephen Frears (The Queen, Dangerous Liaisons, High Fidelity) and written by Russell T Davies (Queer As Folk, Torchwood) revels in this juicy period in history, it’s a scathing indictment of homophobia, of power and of the social order of the era (and a little bit of now).

A thoughtful scene features another MP who wants to see the end of discrimination against gay people, having described his brother’s death by suicide as “tantamount to murder” because of the shame that was inflicted.

Behind closed doors

Whishaw is gifted the better character arc across the miniseries, from a lost puppy type with a jittery energy to someone who would find his voice and self-validation. Whishaw is also someone who consistently puts in good work whether on the small screen, big screen or on stage and he does not disappoint here.

But it’s Grant who steals the show. His maturation as an actor, now that he’s given the opportunity to play roles beyond the pretty boy or silly cad, is a delight to watch, and Florence Foster Jenkins and Paddington 2 is proof that it’s not a fluke.

His Thorpe is not just detestable and devious, he’s also vulnerable and sad — a man with the baggage and burden of his time.

A Very English Scandal starts on BBC First on Foxtel and Fetch on Thursday, September 20 at 8.30pm.

Share your TV and movies obsessions with @wenleima on Twitter.