The Herald - The Herald Magazine
No bones about it, tongues will wag over this scandal
SEX, scandal, MP. When these words appeared in Sunday paper headlines recently it seemed like stepping through a portal to another time. The back to basics, era, say, or earlier than that, Profumo. Surely Westminster scandals had moved on to the likes of Partygate?
Doubtless a dramatist will turn in time to the Downing Street get-togethers. For now, though, television continues to take the old school route approach to impropriety, as seen in Anatomy of a Scandal (Netflix, April 15).
From the novel by Sarah Vaughan, Anatomy of a Scandal is the kind of glossy, goodlooking drama you would expect from David E Kelley and Melissa James Gibson, the writers of Big Little Lies and House of Cards.
At the centre of events are James and Sophie Whitehouse (played by Rupert Friend and Sienna Miller). He’s a government minister, she’s a wife and mother who seems to have it all. They make a terrific team, and then along comes the titular scandal.
Anatomy of a Scandal is just the latest manifestation of television’s passion for dramas set in the world of politics.
For many viewers the affair began with House of Cards, the British version. First shown in 1990, it was the story of pathologically ambitious Tory chief whip Francis Urquhart, his relationship with lobby reporter Mattie Storin (Susannah Harker), and his climb to the very top of the Westminster greasy pole.
With interest ignited by the real-life battle for the Conservative Party, Michael Dobbs’ creation was must see television in its day, and Urquhart’s famous phrase – “You might say that, I couldn’t possibly comment” – is still used today, albeit by less imaginative political sorts. In many ways it was a “#Metoo drama” ahead of its time. Today the Mattie character might be a researcher or press aide.
The American version was just as big a hit. Executive produced by David Fincher with the action moved to Washington DC, it went on to run for six seasons before the crown was eventually handed to … but that would be telling.
For my money, the only serious rival to the British House of Cards has been A Very English Scandal, which first aired in 2018. Written by Russell T
Davies and directed by Stephen Frears, with Hugh Grant eerily brilliant as Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe and Ben Whishaw as his lover, Norman Scott, this was a class act from start to finish.
Botticelli, Florence and the Medici (Sky Arts, free to view, Tuesday, 9pm) is a gorgeously rendered introduction to the Renaissance for art lovers and the simply curious alike. Under Marco Pianigiani’s skilful direction, complexities are distilled to allow easy access to the essence of mid-15th century renaissance art by focusing on one exceptional artist, one stunning setting, and one powerful family.
Narrator Stephen Mangan (Portrait/Landscape Artist of the Year) begins by examining the nature of the relationship between the gifted painter, Sandro Botticelli and the wealthy patron, Lorenzo de Medici, a
relationship best described as mutually beneficial. Botticelli’s painting, The Adoration of the Magi (1476) depicts the birth of Christ attended by not only members of the Medici family but also Botticelli himself. It was this painting which helped to consolidate the Medici family’s social standing and establish Botticelli as an innovative artist in Italy, and eventually throughout the Western world.
The city of Florence is presented as a place at odds with itself, in constant flux between shades of light and dark. The juxtaposition of overhead daytime shots of distinctive red brick roofs and bustling streets, and darkened, eerily empty alleys sums up the Jekyll and Hyde nature of the place.
As ever, there are talking heads dispensing expert knowledge and considered opinion. What’s interesting here is the thread that connects many of these experts’
The city of Florence is presented as a place at odds with itself, in constant flux between shades of light and dark
individual views and helps to keep the format fresh. Botticelli used painting to communicate, much in the same way as social media is employed today. Between the 15th and the 21st centuries, only the medium has changed, with terms such as influencer, selfie and photoshop as much at home in a discussion of Renaissance painting as they are today.
Ask any journalist who in their contacts book always gives value for money and chances are the subject of The Brian Cox Interview (BBC Scotland, Tuesday,10pm) will be mentioned. This time it’s Amy Irons’ good fortune to have a sitdown with the giant of stage and screen. In a half hour interview Cox talks candidly about his early childhood growing up in Dundee, the death of his father, his mother’s mental health, and the family he found in Dundee Rep.