The Scandalous Lady W, the new film of the Bbc

Flamboyant 18th-century aristocrat Lady Worsley is the subject of a new BBC film, The Scandalous Lady W, and was said to be the inspiration for Sheridan's play School for Scandal and a painting by Joshua Reynolds, but what do we really know about the real life woman? The Scandalous Lady W, which airs tonight on BBC2, is a 90-minute drama adapted by playwright David Eldridge from historian Hallie Rubenhold's book. It stars Natalie Dormer (of Game of Thrones and The Tudors fame) as Seymour Dorothy Fleming, a noblewoman who made an ill-suited marriage to Sir Richard Worsley and subsequently became notorious for her involvement in a separation scandal. The Guardian calls the drama "a disturbing tale of sex and sensibility" and "the biggest advert not only for divorce but radical, militarised feminism and premarital sex, too". (//www.theweek.co.uk)