Boris Johnson and Co.: The real events behind ‘Anatomy of a Scandal’

Anatomy of a Scandal is a psychological thriller based on Sarah Vaughan’s bestseller of the same name. It’s about a British woman named Sophie (Sienna Miller) whose celebrity husband James Whitehouse (Rupert Friend) is accused of raping a member of Parliament with whom he first had an affair. A public collapse and a looming PR crisis threaten the integrity of Westminster’s government and tear Sophie’s family into the abyss.

The series is shockingly realistic and reminiscent of scandals that have happened in real life in governments around the world. And indeed: “Anatomy of a Scandal” is based on true events.

“Anatomy of a Scandal” is based on true events

While not based on a single true story, the six-part series was inspired by two real-life events that dominated British news in the 2000s and 2010s.

The novel’s author, Sarah Vaughn, previously worked as a political reporter, covering several resignations of cabinet ministers amid shocking scandals. She learned how these events were handled within the cabinet. In an interview with “” Vaughan revealed that there were two cases in particular that inspired her book “Anatomy of a Scandal”. The first was the 2004 scandal involving future Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was then Deputy Leader of the Conservative Tory Party. He denied having an extramarital affair with columnist Petronella Wyatt, calling the allegations “an inverted pyramid of bullshit.” But when the reports turned out to be true and Johnson still refused to resign, he was fired by party leader Michael Howard.

Vaughan explained that while James isn’t based on Johnson himself in ‘Anatomy of a Scandal,’ the prime minister’s handling of truth is what inspired his character the most. “As Theresa May put it in the House of Commons, he either didn’t read the rules, or he didn’t understand them, or he didn’t think they applied to him,” she said.

Vaughan explained to “” that her book was also inspired by the 2014 case of soccer player Ched Evans, who was convicted of raping a 19-year-old woman in 2011. He served half his sentence before Evans was granted a retrial, where the court admitted new evidence from two witnesses. The witnesses claimed details of the woman’s sexual preferences and she was subsequently asked to speak at length about them in court. Evans was found not guilty.

“I was dismayed at the way the alleged rape victim was portrayed by the commentators and I began to think how awful it must be to have the courage to come forward with a rape conviction and then be challenged in the newspapers and in court to become,” she told the publication. The case came just before the rise of the #MeToo movement, at a time when gender inequalities, harassment and control weren’t talked about nearly as much.

Vaughn now processes both of these events in “The Anatomy of a Scandal,” which examines the impact of such a case on everyone involved, including those who never take the witness stand.

Sources: “”, “”, “”