Lady Worsley: the real woman behind the sex scandal

The Scandalous Lady W tells the story of an abused aristocrat who became a feminist warrior

Scandalous Lady W
(Image credit: 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 first aired on Monday night 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.

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