A Very British Scandal is on BBC One and the historical drama is based on true events. The Crown star Claire Foy plays Duchess Campbell, with Paul Bettany playing husband Ian. During their highly-publicised marriage and subsequent divorce, Ian found photographs of his wife.
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The three-part series made its debut on Boxing Day and it depicts the Duke and Duchess’s marriage from 1951.
During the clash, the Duke found Polaroids of his wife with a naked man, whose face was cut off in the images.
This evidence resulted in a divorce case in 1963, during which the Duke accused his wife of cheating.
English lawyer and judge, Lord Denning, was instructed to track down the ‘Headless Man’.
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The Duke had hired a locksmith to break into a cupboard at their home and he found photos of his wife naked.
The Duchess never revealed the identity of the man, or men, and she died in 1993 aged 80.
Following her death, an article in The Guardian from 2000 claimed the identity had been revealed.
The article said not one, but two potential lovers had been identified.
The first was allegedly Duncan Sandys, Minister of Defence at the time and the son-in-law of Winston Churchill.
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He offered to resign but there was another man’s name in the mix – Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
Five suspects were asked to sign a visitor’s register and Fairbanks’ handwriting was analysed by a graphologist.
The Argyll case was the longest and most-highlighted divorce to be carried out in Britain.
Margaret Argyll was renowned for her beauty and is alleged to have slept with 88 men.
Actress Foy recently recreated the ‘Headless Man’ image as part of a racy scene in the series. She was dressed in black lingerie and her famous pearls as she handed the man a camera.
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Margaret died in a Pimlico nursing home, never revealing the identity of her secret lover.
In one famous photo, the Duchess is wearing nothing but her iconic triple string of pearls.
The photo featured a man who was captured from the neck down, obscuring his identity.
Judge Lord Wheatley said at the time: “There is enough in her own admissions and proven facts to establish that by 1960 she was a completely promiscuous woman whose sexual appetite could only be satisfied with a number of men.
“She . . . had ceased to be satisfied with normal relations and had started to indulge in disgusting sexual activities.”
A Very British Scandal airs at 9pm on BBC One