A Very Royal Scandal

After A Very English Scandal, which was sensational, I didn't expect to like this very much. However, I did find A Very Royal Scandal to be pretty darn good. Michael Sheen gives a great performance as Prince Andrew, and he even obviously put on weight for the role, subsuming his own good looks into the pudgy form and persona of the arrogant and clueless prince. Even so, he also makes the prince a sympathetic character, which came as a surprise. I was expecting to root for the journalists (as I usually do, having worked in journalism myself), but found myself instead feeling sorry for Prince Andrew and disgusted with the journalists, who come across as overly hard and driven and not especially concerned with the victim(s) of Jeffrey Epstein, so obsessed with their own success as they are. This all be part of the dramatization of the events surrounding this story and not how things actually spooled out, but it did make for interesting viewing.

The first thing I need to complain about is the cinematography. For some reason the film is presented in a letterbox format, so we have black bars above and below the picture. The other thing, certainly in the first episode, is that many of the scenes are made in darkness. Maybe it's intentional, but it really makes it hard to see what's going on. Not well lit.

So far as the acting is concerned, as usual, Michael Sheen inhabits the character of Andrew very well. Not a nice man, we're led to believe.

Emily Maitlis, played by Ruth Wilson, is also believable, though we don't really get an in-depth understanding of her character. She also has adopted a weird kind of accent, a cross between Miranda Hart and Maggie Thatcher.

I've viewed the first (of 3) episodes and really enjoyed it. It's a 'grown up' production, beautifully filmed and with a pace and editorial that engages you from the start. The acting is superb, particularly Michael Sheen as Price Andrew. It's a substantial piece of work covering the before, during and after the interview and I very much look forward to watching the 2 remaining episodes. It's fun too!

PS - the reviewer ExiledRoyal notes that as the production is shot in letter box format, the top and bottom black bars are frustrating. The reviewer might like to adjust the settings on their television so that the set can adjust to the format. I get a full screen with no image miss and no black bars.

One star docked for Ruth Wilson's Elizabeth Holmes Theranos CEO type voice. What were they thinking? It was so obviously put on and fake. Took me right out of the drama. Is she angling to play Margaret Thatcher in future?

I loved the actress who played Sarah Ferguson and Michael Sheen is always good, but when I first heard he was playing Prince Andrew I was really surprised. I just didn't see how he could pull it off, but wow he did... And without a silly voice! He really captured the look and feel of a man in turmoil. That embarrassed type of anger when someone knows they have been caught out. That is skill.

I like Ruth Wilson as an actress, but I think Gillian Anderson's portrayal as Emily Matliss just pipped her, I think they should/could have put this into 2 episodes, I found myself drifting in the third although maybe then they would have cut the best line in the drama "I would have offered you tea but we've had to let the the staff go" this line delivered by "Fergie" played brilliantly by Claire Rushbrook, to the equally excellent Alex Jennings playing the Queens deliverer of bad news ,Sir Edward Young,this line probably sums up the weird world that they live in. Make it yourself you entitled so and so,shout all us commoners!

Was he guilty ? Maybe, Was he innocent ? Maybe Was/is he an idiot? No maybe's about this one .