FIVE TRULY SCANDALOUS SHOWS

A VERY BRITISH SCANDAL (BBC iplayer)

Claire Foy is masterful as Margaret Campbell, aka the ‘Dirty Duchess’, whose toxic 1963 divorce from the vile Duke of Argyll (Paul Bettany), caused a scandal thanks to the 88 men she was accused of having affairs with and some salacious Polaroids. Foy’s Margaret (right) is no angel, but this three-parter interrogates the hypocrisy surrounding sex at the time.

A VERY ENGLISH SCANDAL (BBC iplayer)

In 1979, disgraced Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe stood trial for conspiracy to murder his exlover, Norman Scott (Ben Whishaw). Hugh Grant (left) is superb at pulling off Thorpe’s upper-class reserve in this series from Russell T Davies.

IMPEACHMENT: AMERICAN CRIME STORY

(disney+) This addictive ten-parter focuses on Bill Clinton’s affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky (Beanie Feldstein), which led to the impeachment of the President (Clive Owen, inset above) in 1998. Sarah Paulson steals the show as Monica’s confidante Linda Tripp.

STONEHOUSE (ITVX)

Based on the stranger-than-fiction true story of the British politician who, in 1974, hatched an outlandish plan to disappear, this polished drama stars Matthew Macfadyen as John Stonehouse, who tried to fake his own death. The casting of Macfadyen’s real-life partner, Keeley Hawes (above, left, with Macfadyen and Emer Heatley), as Stonehouse’s long-suffering wife, Barbara, is a masterstroke.

WHITE HOUSE PLUMBERS (Sky/now)

Justin Theroux and Woody Harrelson (right) are hilarious as the ‘plumbers’ who were hired to plug national security leaks but caused the Watergate scandal.