A Very English Scandal (BBC One) began as a knockabout farce and, even after unlucky pet dog Rinka was executed, it never quite stopped being one. The circumstances of the case certainly helped. What joy that one suspect shared a name with the actor who played Sergeant Wilson in Dad’s Army. And that Norman Scott’s most faithful supporter was called Edna Friendship.
And yet here was dark, appalling comedy. Hugh Grant played Jeremy Thorpewith the lofty look of a priest attempting to ignore the putrid stench of the gutter. Superbly attuned both to the story’s absurdities and to Thorpe’s cold hard hypocrisy, Grant’s performance was genuinely revelatory. Only now does it seem obvious that a light...