Anatomy of a Scandal

Premise

Sophie Whitehouse is the wife of British Home Secretary James Whitehouse. Sophie learns that her husband has been having an affair with his young aide, Olivia Lytton. The news goes public, blowing up their lives and forces Sophie to deal with the consequences of James' actions. To make matters worse, James is accused of raping Olivia and has to stand trial.

Cast and characters

Main

Sienna Miller as Sophie Whitehouse, James's wife

Hannah Dodd portrays a young Sophie Whitehouse (then: Sophie Greenaway)

Michelle Dockery as Kate Woodcroft , prosecution counsel tasked with James's case

Nancy Farino portrays a young Kate Woodcroft, then named Holly Berry

Rupert Friend as James Whitehouse , Home Office minister and close friend to the Prime Minister

Ben Radcliffe portrays a young James Whitehouse

Naomi Scott as Olivia Lytton, parliamentary researcher on James's staff, who has an affair with him and later accuses him of rape

Joshua McGuire as Chris Clarke, Downing Street communications chief

Josette Simon as Angela Regan , James's defense counsel

Recurring

Jonathan Firth as Richard, Kate's married former pupil master, with whom she is having an affair

Sebastian Selwood as Finn Whitehouse, Sophie and James's son

Amelie Bea Smith as Emily Whitehouse, Sophie and James's daughter

Geoffrey Streatfeild as Tom Southern , the Prime Minister

Jake Simmance portrays a young Tom Southern

Violet Verigo as Krystyna, the Whitehouses' Russian au pair

Liz White as Ali, a schoolteacher and Kate's best friend

Tom Turner as John Vestey, James's solicitor,

Josette Simon as Angela Regan, James's defence barrister

Jonathan Coy as Aled Luckhurst, the judge of James's rape case

Kudzai Sitima as Maggie, Kate's pupil

Guest

Richard McCabe as Brian Taylor

Rosalie Craig as Lucy

Anna Madeley as Ellie Frisk, a friend of Sophie's

Edmund Kingsley as Mark Frisk, Ellie's husband

Maggie Steed as Sybil Murray, one of James's constituents

Luka Sheppard as Alec Fisher, a classmate of James and Tom at Oxford

Jane How as Madame Speaker

Clive Francis as Lawrence Hughes-Davies

Adrian Lukis as Aitkin, Leader of the Opposition

Kathryn Wilder as Kitty Ledger, Olivia's friend and co-worker

Phoebe Nicholls as Tuppence Whitehouse, James's mother

Production

Netflix announced in May 2020 they had greenlit the series, which David E. Kelley and Melissa James Gibson adapted from the Sarah Vaughan novel of the same name. S. J. Clarkson was set to direct all episodes of the series. In September, Sienna Miller, Michelle Dockery, and Rupert Friend were cast to star in the series. Naomi Scott would be added in December, with Ben Radcliffe cast in a recurring role in January 2021.

Filming for the series began in October 2020 at Shepperton Studios. Filming also took place at St. George's Hanover Square Primary School in Mayfair, London. Production took place in Oxford in February 2021.

Reception

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 60% approval rating with an average rating of 5.9/10, based on 42 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "Anatomy of a Scandal has the bones of a good David E. Kelley potboiler but lacks the connective tissue to really work, although the starry cast provides an intrigue all its own." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 52 out of 100 based on 20 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Anatomy of a Scandal was in the Netflix Global Top 10 of most-watched English language series for five weeks, holding the number one position in its second week.