“A Sado-Masochistic Game”: 'THR Presents' Q&A With the Stars of 'A Very British Scandal'

Claire Foy and Paul Bettany, the stars of the Amazon Prime Video drama 'A Very British Scandal,' join a THR Presents panel.

“A Sado-Masochistic Game”: ‘THR Presents’ Q&A With the Stars of ‘A Very British Scandal’

“A bad chemistry experiment” is how Claire Foy describes the doomed relationship between the real-life Duke and Duchess of Argyll (aka Ian and Margaret Campbell) at the center of Prime Video’s enthralling limited series A Very British Scandal.

Foy and her co-star Paul Bettany gathered for an in-person edition of THR Presents, powered by Vision Media, and did a deep pe into the stormy marriage — which ended in one of the most vicious porce cases in British history — depicted so unflinchingly in showrunner Sarah Phelps’s three-parter. Foy plays Margaret, the Duchess, who became famous in the 1930s among high-society Britain, and already had a reputation for living life to the full way before she met and then married the Duke in 1951. Of Margaret’s public image, Foy says, “I had a slight problem with [her] in the sense that the stories you heard about her were so brilliant and bold and out there, but in all the interviews you see with her, she’s incredibly straitlaced and proper — you would never believe that woman was living some sort of a debauched sexual life.”

As for Bettany’s portrayal of the Duke, he was keen to explore what might have made him such a deeply flawed human being. “I don’t know whether the real Duke was some kind of malignant narcissist or psychopath, or whether he was suffering from some kind of PTSD,” says Bettany. “He weighed 70 pounds when he came back from prisoner of war camp, and he may have been self-medicating. I don’t know those things, but I can make assumptions that can help make him less boring to play and hopefully more entertaining to watch than just him being a bad guy.”

The drama shows, in an almost darkly comedic style, how the Duke and Duchess’s relationship turned toxic as soon as they became husband and wife. In a key sequence, the newlyweds arrive at the Duke’s crumbling castle in Scotland and meet the staff, with the Duke insisting on publicly carrying his wife over the threshold. But, desperate to maintain her dignity, the Duchess is having none of it. “She’d been porced once, he’s been porced twice, so it wasn’t like the first flush of young love,” explains Foy. “And as soon as her feet hit the ground when he puts her down, the fairy-tale is very much over.”

Asked why she thinks they got together in the first place, Foy observes, “I think theirs was a very physical relationship and there was an instant chemistry … They realized they were excited about each other, but that doesn’t mean it’s enough to sustain a marriage.” Bettany adds: “I think they probably thought they could live a different sort of life where the only rule was that they didn’t bore each other.”

Both actors agree that there seemed to be some kind of intense yet unhealthy sexual connection between the Duke and Duchess. “Perhaps she’s complicit in the game that she thinks they’re playing, which is a sado-masochistic game,” says Bettany. “But in the end, she wants out. I think it sort of destroys her.” Foy sums up the perversity of the game: “You see it turn from genuine hate into something similar to desire. It’s like they could be intimate and close and loving with each other because of how disgustingly they’ve treated each other.”

In addition to exploring the deeply disquieting nature of this marriage, the actors also discuss the story’s many parallels with current celebrity culture, and the media and society’s treatment of famous women in particular. It’s a story which feels remarkably relevant all-around.

For more from the lead actors in A Very British Scandal, watch the full video at the top of the post. This edition of THR Presents is sponsored by Prime Video.