Big Little Lies series creator David E Kelley has adapted Sarah Vaughan\u2019s bestselling book<\/a>, with an all-star cast<\/a> featuring Sienna Miller, Rupert Friend, Naomi Scott, and Downton Abbey star Michelle Dockery.<\/p>\n In the series, James Whitehouse (Rupert Friend), a charming Tory Cabinet minister and Old Etonian married to his university sweetheart Sophie (Miller), is accused of rape by a parliamentary aide (played by Scott) with whom he had been having an affair.<\/p>\n The official synopsis from Netflix reads: \u201cA psychological thriller and gripping courtroom drama, the series infiltrates Britain\u2019s elite through personal and political scandal, where the truth lies between justice and privilege.\u201d<\/p>\n But while the series was based on the fictional book of the same name, Sarah Vaughan\u2019s\u00a0bestseller was in fact inspired by two real-life British news stories.<\/p> The book Anatomy of a Scandal \u2013 on which the Netflix<\/a> series is based \u2013 was inspired by two real-life news stories that hit British newspaper headlines.<\/p>\n Speaking to The Guardian<\/a>, author Sarah Vaughan cited both the 2004 sacking of Boris Johnson from the Conservative front-bench after lying about an extramarital affair, and the 2014 release of footballer Ched Evans after serving jail time for a rape conviction \u2013 the conviction was later quashed and he was found not guilty at a retrial.<\/p>\n Vaughan stressed that Boris Johnson is\u00a0\u201cnot in any way James [the character played by Rupert Friend]\u201d, before adding: \u201cIt was his approach to the truth that interested me. As Theresa May put it in the Commons recently<\/a>, either he \u2018didn\u2019t read the rules, or [he] didn\u2019t understand them, or [he] didn\u2019t think they applied to [him]\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Or, as James puts it in Anatomy of a Scandal: \u201cI told the truth, near enough. Or the truth as I saw it.\u201d<\/p>\n On her personal website, the author described how the book \u201cdraws on [her] experience as a political correspondent, court reporter, and student at Oxford to explore power, privilege, and consent\u201d.<\/p>\n In an interview with Exploring Exeter<\/a>, she spoke of the Ched Evans case, which \u201cmerged\u201d in her subconscious with her own \u201cMeToo experiences\u201d during her twenties, when she worked as a news reporter.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI actually dreamed up the plot after being perturbed by coverage of a rape case,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt was back in November 2013, and the footballer Ched Evans was trying to appeal against his conviction for rape. I was upset by the way in which the alleged rape victim was depicted by commentators and started thinking about how horrific it must be to summon up the courage to come forward with a rape conviction and then have doubt cast on that in the papers and in court.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI also started thinking about what we\u2019d now call our #MeToo experiences, though we didn\u2019t have that terminology at the time, and how I didn\u2019t want my then-8-year-old daughter to have to experience some of the things I had as I learned to navigate sexual politics in my early to mid-twenties.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n She continued: \u201cThe main plot points came to me in the dream, so I obviously merged concerns I\u2019d had about power, perceptions of truth, privilege \u2013 all seen at Oxford and in Westminster \u2013 and consent.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Looking for something else to watch? Check out our guide to the\u00a0<\/strong>best TV series on\u00a0Netflix<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/strong>best movies\u00a0on\u00a0Netflix<\/strong><\/a>, visit our\u00a0<\/strong>TV Guide<\/strong><\/a>, or find out about upcoming\u00a0<\/strong>new TV shows 2020<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\nIs Anatomy of a Scandal based on a true story?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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