Netflix drama Anatomy of a Scandal casts Sienna Miller, Michelle Dockery and Rupert Friend
The six-part drama about a junior minister accused of rape has announced its lead stars.
Netflix's six-part adaptation of a novel about a sexual scandal in the Houses of Parliament, Anatomy of a Scandal, has cast Sienna Miller, Michelle Dockery and Rupert Friend in the three lead roles.
The 2017 novel, Anatomy of a Scandal, was written by Sarah Vaughan and relates the tawdry tale of a rising, ambitious politician, James, who has an affair with a junior member of staff, Olivia, but is accused of rape.
His wife, Sophie, is convinced that her husband is innocent, but prosecutor Kate (Dockery) is equally convinced that he’s guilty of the crime.
Netflix describes the six by one-hour series as "an insightful and suspenseful series about sexual consent and privilege set in London" and gives more details about the three lead characters.
Sophie Whitehouse, played by Miller, is an Oxford graduate, a wife and a mother of two, whose perfectly charmed life is about to implode.
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Kate Woodcroft, QC, played by Downton Abbey star Dockery, is a steely criminal barrister specialising in prosecuting sexual crimes who’s risen quickly in her field, and just got handed the case of a lifetime.
James Whitehouse, played by Friend, is an ambitious and charismatic junior minister who has always shared his wife's good fortune, until now.
Anatomy of a Scandal will be directed by famed US television showrunner David E. Kelley, best known for HBO's Big Little Lies, Boston Legal and classic '90s show Ally McBeal.
Kelley is no stranger to directing intense dramas about sexual misadventures and relationship trauma – Big Little Lies starred Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon and was based around a murder in the small, wealthy community of Monterey, California, while upcoming Sky Atlantic drama The Undoing, again starring Kidman, plus Hugh Grant, is the tale of a seemingly perfect marriage coming apart.
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