The series spends a good amount of time following the lives of both Thorpe, living the life of the rich and powerful; and of Scott, who was neither. I appreciated the background, since I had zero knowledge of the events around the scandal. From a quick web search, it looks like the series was fairly accurate to the real events.
Of course, historical fiction is only as good as the ability to make the events come to life. I was impressed with A Very English Scandal on this front, and much of the credit for that goes to the actors. Hugh Grant and Ben Whishaw were great as the two leads, and several of the supporting characters gave memorable performances as well. I particularly liked Alex Jennings as Peter Bessell. Judging from all the awards that the series won, it appears I'm not alone in enjoying the performance.
An easy theme to identify in this series is how the criminalization of homosexuality caused major problems in people's lives as they were forced to hide their true selves. While the criminal aspect is gone in most places these days, there are still significant social issues for LGBT people that can have a significant impact. I think a deeper theme here is that living a lie, whether it's hiding from the law or your neighbors, rarely stops with just the lie. It leads to more extreme measures to cover yourself; most people won't go as far as conspiracy to murder, but there's still an impact. Whether you approve of a person's lifestyle or not, they're still human beings and deserve the chance to be themselves.
A Very English Scandal is entertaining, teaches a bit of history, and is short enough that it won't take much of your time. Recommended.
