This opening episode of the miniseries "A Very English Scandal" introduces Jeremy Thorpe engaged in a confession in the House of Commons dining hall. Two of the political powerbrokers, Thorpe and Peter "Pedro" Bessell have (for the period of the 1960s) a lurid conversation about sex. Both men are MPs, with Thorpe a rising star and Bessell a former Congregational lay preacher. Yet, here they are sitting in public discussing what it is like to be on "the spear side" of male sexual identity.
Eventually, Bessell assists Thorpe in trying to make a "problem" go away when Thorpe is blackmailed by a young man named Norman Josiffe. Thorpe originally met Norman, who was working as a stable hand with one of Thorpe's highbrow friends. Thorpe seduced the young Norman while putting him up in his mother's home. For a number of years, Norman was a kept man with Thorpe providing him with financial support and living accommodations. The past life of Norman is complicated. But in this episode, he claims that he hails from Bexleyheath, a suburb of London, southeast of Charing Cross. He then becomes a male model in Dublin, prior to his career crashing to an end due to personal problems.
In the opening conversation with Pedro Bessell, Thorpe wants to keep things discreet. But that was hardly the way he dealt with Norman, writing him mash notes that would later be used as evidence by the troubled Norman. After he pays a visit to Scotland Yard where his "evidence" is simply locked away in a safe, Norman phones Thorpe's wife Caroline, confessing that he was her husband's lover and wishes for Thorpe to assist him in obtaining a national health card.
The film is successful in placing what for the period was a delicate subject in its historical context. There was a gay rights movement afoot with Leo Abse, a Welsh MP championing bills to decriminalize male homosexual relations. This progressive issue becomes an essential strand in the story of Jeremy Thorpe.
The rise of Thorpe to leader of the Liberal Party by 1967 makes the behind-the-scenes blackmail threats of Norman Josiffe all the more dramatic. Norman is portrayed as a troubled young man coping with psychiatric issues. Thorpe is at heart a conservative, who claims that he would "blow his brains out" if his secret life were made public. But Thorpe appears to cross the line when, desperate for a solution, he raises the possibility to Pedro of murdering Norman.
Eventually, Bessell assists Thorpe in trying to make a "problem" go away when Thorpe is blackmailed by a young man named Norman Josiffe. Thorpe originally met Norman, who was working as a stable hand with one of Thorpe's highbrow friends. Thorpe seduced the young Norman while putting him up in his mother's home. For a number of years, Norman was a kept man with Thorpe providing him with financial support and living accommodations. The past life of Norman is complicated. But in this episode, he claims that he hails from Bexleyheath, a suburb of London, southeast of Charing Cross. He then becomes a male model in Dublin, prior to his career crashing to an end due to personal problems.
In the opening conversation with Pedro Bessell, Thorpe wants to keep things discreet. But that was hardly the way he dealt with Norman, writing him mash notes that would later be used as evidence by the troubled Norman. After he pays a visit to Scotland Yard where his "evidence" is simply locked away in a safe, Norman phones Thorpe's wife Caroline, confessing that he was her husband's lover and wishes for Thorpe to assist him in obtaining a national health card.
The film is successful in placing what for the period was a delicate subject in its historical context. There was a gay rights movement afoot with Leo Abse, a Welsh MP championing bills to decriminalize male homosexual relations. This progressive issue becomes an essential strand in the story of Jeremy Thorpe.
The rise of Thorpe to leader of the Liberal Party by 1967 makes the behind-the-scenes blackmail threats of Norman Josiffe all the more dramatic. Norman is portrayed as a troubled young man coping with psychiatric issues. Thorpe is at heart a conservative, who claims that he would "blow his brains out" if his secret life were made public. But Thorpe appears to cross the line when, desperate for a solution, he raises the possibility to Pedro of murdering Norman.
