In tonight's finale of the racy British drama viewers saw the Duchess of Argyll played by Claire Foy admit to her adultery in a dramatic final scene.
The three-part drama tells the true story of Margaret, The Duchess of Argyll, who died in 1993 aged 80.
She was branded a nymphomaniac by her husband the 11th Duke of Argyll (played by Paul Bettany) in their toxic 1963 divorce hearing, which became the longest and most costly of the 20th century.
image class="left" url= image class="left" url= In the scene, the Duchess is given a day from dawn to dusk to collect her belongings from Inveraray Castle - the family home she's been banned from staying in during the divorce hearing. She walks in at the crack of dawn to see her husband greet her as 'Satan' before grabbing an axe and templatextreme.Com branding him 'a f*.
image class="left" url= The Duke then cowers in a cupboard while his wife attacks him screaming she isn't unhinged in a Shining-esque scene.
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He claimed she had taken on an amazing 88 lovers, including cabinet ministers, Hollywood stars and royals, during their marriage.
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But despite the dramatic real life story, the BBC failed to capture the magic and [[https://directorico.com/ https://directorico.com]] humour of a 'Very English Scandal' and left many viewers bored.
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One wrote: 'This is up there with the most boring things I've watched, all the characters are unlikable'.
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However, despite many praised the acting of Paul Bettany and Clare Foy - noting one scene where the Duchess fantasises about acting her husband with an axe as 'iconic'.
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In the scene, the Duchess is given a day from dawn to dusk to collect her belongings from Inveraray Castle - the family home she's been banned from staying in during the divorce hearing.
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She walks in at the crack of dawn to see her husband greet her as 'Satan' before grabbing an axe and branding him 'a f*****''.
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The Duke then cowers in a cupboard while his wife attacks him screaming she isn't unhinged in a Shining-esque scene.
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One wrote: 'Claire Foy going full ‘Shining' in ‘A Very British Scandal' is incredible, peak British telly.
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Nothing says Christmas like someone wielding an axe and screaming expletives.'
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Another added: 'All the awards to Claire Foy and Paul Bettany for playing unlikable character so well.'
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The ending saw the Duchess admit to adultery, after a picture of her performing oral sex on a man was circulated.
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Last night's episode saw the Duchess entering her bathroom where a naked man is stood waiting.
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In the graphic scene, she performed a sexual act on a man in her Mayfair apartment while polaroid photographs are taken.
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image class="left" url= In tonight's finale of the racy British drama viewers saw the Duchess of Argyll played by Claire Foy admit to her adultery in a dramatic ending scene
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image class="left" url= Viewers praised Paul and Claire's acting but some branded the storylines boring and characters unlikable
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After first claiming the man - who's face cannot be seen - was her husband, she later admitted in court it wasn't him, [[https://renew-britain.com/ https://renew-britain.com/]] and [[https://yctricks.com/ https://yctricks.com]] that it was her in the picture.
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However despite the steaminess of the moment, many of those watching slammed the TV drama as 'depressing', with one writing: 'Trying to watch #AVeryBritishScandal but god, it's a bit miserable innit?
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I mean, [[https://pavilionopinions.com/ situs]] what's it really about?'
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Meanwhile viewing figures overnight showed the steamy show had failed to bring in viewers, with a larger audience tuning in to watch ITV's Family Fortunes Christmas Special - as well as the children's film Paddington 2.
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The first three episodes aired on BBC1 the past three nights, though the full series has been available on iPlayer since Sunday night.
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The three-part series, which started on Boxing Day, tells the real-life story of Margaret, who in the early 1960s was at the centre of scandal when her high-profile divorce case exposed her adventurous sex life.
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image class="left" url= Racy: Claire was seen stripping off in various scenes from the episode, donning black lingerie for one scene
image class="left" url= Viewers of A Very British Scandal have bemoaned the 'depressing' drama and 'beastly' characters as the series depicted the infamous 'headless man' polaroid
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She dominated the front pages as her divorce from the Duke of Argyll (portrayed by Paul Bettany) played out - featuring accusations of forgery, theft, violence, drugtaking, secret recording, bribery and the pictures.
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The first episode of A Very British Scandal took viewers by surprise as they watched Foy perform three sex scenes in the first 30 minutes of the first episode - with two different men.
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It showed Margaret seducing a man at a dinner party before romping with her on-screen husband at his Scottish stately home and in a cleaning cupboard at her parents' property.
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It comes just days after Foy spoke out about how she hates doing sex scenes, saying they make her feel 'exploited' and that they are the 'grimmest thing you can do'.
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The first episode took place just 16 minutes into the first episode, between Margaret and an unnamed stranger she meets at a fun-filled dinner party.
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image class="left" url= Elsewhere in the episode, Paul Bettany's Duke of Argyll flew into a rage after Margaret refused to give him more money
image class="left" url= The moment the Duchess performed a sexual act on a man in her Mayfair apartment has been recreated in near-graphic detail in TV's racy drama about her life
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Audiences never finds out the identity of this man, but in later scenes with a female friend, it is suggested that Margaret would regularly sleep with men she met the same evening.
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The second sex scene took place 26 minutes into the episode.
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It shows Margaret arriving at Inveraray Castle in Scotland, the home of Ian Campbell, the Duke of Argyll.
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At the time of their first meeting, the Duke was still married to Louise Timpson.
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But that didn't stop the Duke and his guest from sleeping together.
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Moments after they had sex, he asked Margaret for her hand in marriage.
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The third comes very shortly after, at 29 minutes, just before Margaret takes Ian to meet her father for his approval of their marriage.
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They make a quick but racy stop-off in a cleaning cupboard, before going up to see Margaret's parents.
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image class="left" url= The photo: In the following scene, the actress opened a letter containing the explicit images (pictured)
image class="left" url= 16 MINUTES IN: The first episode of A Very British Scandal took viewers by surprise as they watched Claire enjoy three sex scenes in the first 30 minutes of the first episode - with two different men
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image class="left" url= 24 MINUTES IN: The second sex scene took place 26 minutes into the episode.
It shows Margaret arriving at Inveraray Castle in Scotland, the home of Ian Campbell, the Duke of Argyll
image class="left" url= 29 MINUTES: The third sex scene comes in at 29 minutes, shortly after the second, where the pair dash off into a cleaning cupboard before they meet Margaret's father for his approval of marriage
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Viewers could have expected a fair few sex scenes in the series, after Foy said ahead of its launch that she finds filming them unpleasant, and that they make her feel 'exposed' and 'exploited'.
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Foy told BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour: 'It's a really hard line because basically you do feel exploited when you are a woman and you are having to perform fake sex on screen. You can't help but feel exploited.
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'It's grim - it's the grimmest thing you can do.
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You feel exposed. Everyone can make you try to not feel that way but it's unfortunately the reality.'
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Twitter users commented on how awkward it was to watch the three sex scenes in the presence of older family members.
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One said: 'Watching A Very British Scandal in front of my parents was not the best idea.
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Even at 37 seeing sex scenes on TV with them in the room is all kinds of awkward. Thanks @PhelpsieSarah!'
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image class="left" url= As Claire Foy is set to play Margaret, Duchess of Argyll in a new Boxing Day drama, those who knew the real aristocrat have revealed to society bible Tatler how she was 'strikingly beautiful' and had a 'ghoulish quality like Morticia Adams'
image class="left" url= image class="left" url= The programme comes from the team behind the BBC's A Very English Scandal, which starred Hugh Grant and Ben Whishaw as politician Jeremy Thorpe and his lover, Norman Scott - left: the Duchess of Argyll, right: Claire Foy as the Duchess
Louise Teboul similarly said: 'Watching A Very British Scandal with my mother-in-law and OH [other half] - didn't realise there was going to be so much sex in it - awkward.'
Another added: 'I forgot how awkward it was watching sex scenes with a parent till A Very British Scandal tonight.'
Michael Wave joked: 'Sending thoughts and prayers to everyone else who is now locked into watching a very British scandal with their families, not realising how much sex there would be in it.'
Born in 1912, the only child of a self-made Scottish millionaire, Margaret was described by her biographer Lyndsy Spence as 'a daddy's girl with an absent father, living with a jealous mother who sought to remind Margaret of her every shortcoming'.
<div class="art-ins mol-factbox floatRHS femail" data-version="2" id="mol-4d5e77e0-6828-11ec-ac87-f71e6a3f5e76" website brand finale of Very British Scandal 'boring'
