BBC drama ‘rewrote history to turn scandalous aristocrat into a feminist'
Rubenhold, an award-winning historian, was delighted when her biography of Seymour Fleming, styled Lady Worsley, was turned into a BBC Two drama starring Natalie Dormer.
In a case that scandalised society in 1781, Seymour left her husband, Sir Richard Worsley, to elope with his best friend.
Sir Richard sued for damages and the case became a sensation when Seymour revealed in court that she had taken many other lovers.
This 'devalued' her in the eyes of the law and Sir Richard was awarded only a shilling in compensation.
The BBC told this story in The Scandalous Lady W, which aired in 2015.
After years of speaking diplomatically about the adaptation, Rubenhold confided her feelings to an audience at the Hay Festival.
She said it was 'spine-tingling' to see her work transferred to the screen but went on: 'It is an act of negotiation. For me, one of the most difficult things about that was the desire to make Lady Worsley into a feminist when she absolutely was not a feminist.
'She was a rich heiress who wanted her money back. And she did what she could to get it back.
'She wasn't doing these things for the good of womankind or anybody else other than herself, and there was this desire to frame her as a feminist so she could speak to a modern audience, and that made me slightly uncomfortable.'
Rubenhold shared the stage with fellow historian Joshua Levine, who was a historical consultant on Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk and Steve McQueen's Blitz.
The pair discussed the historical inaccuracies found in film and television period dramas.
Levine singled out Downton Abbey for its 'really modern characters with modern attitudes who are very anti-racism and very inclusive, and it's really frustrating to watch. It's nice, it's cosy but it's not right.'
Rubenhold reserved her greatest ire for a Hollywood blockbuster. 'I absolutely cannot stand Titanic. I hate everything about Titanic. I really was glad that Jack died,' she said.
'James Cameron was so obsessed with the technicalities of the ship – moment-by-moment, how it was sinking, how at this point it split in half, at this point that collapsed, these people slipped that way and this room flooded.
'Why did nobody pay any attention to the believability of the characters? Because these were not characters from 1912. The entire plot was just stupid.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
31 minutes ago
- BBC News
Dating apps try something different to keep search for love online
I'm sitting - trying to look composed - in a London bar. Cocktail ordered, there's a rollercoaster knot of anticipation building in my stomach - I'm waiting for a this isn't exactly your typical dating rendezvous - because while my date and I met online, as so many people do nowadays, we matched on an app that doesn't allow users to exchange messages until a few hours before the meetup.I know my date's name and I've seen her photo, but there's been none of the usual small talk messaging - just a few words to confirm I'm looking forward to meeting, and that's it.I first started using dating apps during the Covid lockdowns - Hinge mainly, but I've also tried Tinder and Bumble. They introduced me to a vibrant mix of people - some became short-term flings, others full-blown relationships, and then there were the other indefinable after a mutual new year break-up (with an ex I'd met on Hinge), I returned to the dating app scene as a 30-something tired of the cookie-cutter profiles and weird monoculture. Everyone seems to be looking for someone who "doesn't take themselves too seriously", is itching to make travel and running a personality trait, or is desperate to go hiking. As a wheelchair user, I definitely won't be doing the last two - no matter how much physio I do.I wanted something different. I was after a pasta admirer, like me So, when a friend told me about an app which cuts out pre-date chat and gets straight to the date, I was intrigued. No awkward talking stage, no wondering if you've asked someone out too early - or left it too suggests an overwhelming number of daters have online burnout - so it's no wonder dating apps are trying to reignite the Feeld, an app for the sexually curious; Fourplay, which teams single friends together with other pairs for group dates; and Lex, an LGBTQ+ message board app, while Raya is invite-only for celeb to Ofcom, singletons aged under 25 are dating online more than any other age group – so the big dating apps are also adding functionality to try to keep them June, Tinder introduced its double date feature. Akin to the Fourplay app, it lets users create a joint profile with a friend. Tinder's umbrella company, Match Group, said it needed to keep up with what Gen Z wanted and "build lower-pressure" ways for them to has basically been charging more for a premium match-making service. Hinge X, the most expensive tier, charges £24.99 per week for "enhanced access to your type", the ability to "skip the line" and "like priority". The obvious question, of course, is how that works if multiple users are signed up - they can't all be the apps preach a tailored focus, but together respond to the same underlying sense of dating fatigue I have been feeling too. I'd been sending messages into the ether without any guarantee the algorithm would actually get them to the potential future love of my life - increasingly it felt a waste of as someone who's been on the end of multiple failed talking stages in the past few months - cutting straight to the date felt a novel thing to try. Because, why not? Does online dating work? Once mocked, online dating is now a global love affair worth billions, and love at first swipe has become the generational norm. Almost 10% of Brits told a recent YouGov poll they met their partner on an app too, so that probably tells us studies show cross-gender dissatisfaction, with women overwhelmed by matches, while men generally struggle and are more likely to turn to paid features to boost their chances. Add the normalisation of unhealthy dating behaviours like ghosting - suddenly cutting contact without explanation - and some drained daters are deciding: "it's not me, it's you".Last year, a class action lawsuit accused Match Group, owners of mainstream apps like Tinder and Hinge, of using addictive game-like features to encourage compulsive use. The case has since been sent to arbitration. Match Group rejected the claims calling the lawsuit "ridiculous", reports Reuters news Depth: Why dating apps could be in troubleIs speed dating the answer for Gen Zs looking for love?Tinder's height filter divides datersYet, despite trying to keep us hooked, Ofcom data shows the UK's most popular dating apps saw usage fall by 16% in 2024. Tinder lost 594,000 users, Hinge dropped by 131,000, Bumble by 368,000 and Grindr by 11,000. In June, Bumble laid off 30% of its global Breeze, the new app I was trying, once you match a date is booked at a "partner venue" - this is partly how the app makes its money. Users pay upfront for a drink which acts as a soft deterrent to prevent no-shows – but bail repeatedly and your account will be temporarily my profile, I wrote that I hoped to meet someone self-assured - able to laugh at life and themselves, while also embracing a dance floor with enthusiasm. Bonus points for cat people and pasta-admirers. My date, Rozena (not her real name), had amazing eyes - deep blue, with a purple tinge. She said she was looking for a long-term relationship, listed culture and theatre among her interests, and described the "worst idea she ever had" as the time she tried a particular dance move in heels, and ended up in an felt like exactly the kind of calamity I could get on board with. And that's how I found myself heading to this date.I'd flagged to Breeze that I'm a wheelchair user to make sure the venue was accessible before the booking was confirmed. The app's support team was responsive and the bar certainly seemed fine on paper. But while I could technically get in, all the indoor tables were up a few steps I couldn't navigate, meaning we would have to sit outside. The app later apologised for this and said it would work on how it audits places for accessibility in the future. Less pre-chat made us more present I messaged Rozena through the app - in the short pre-date window that opens just before that first meeting. She was understanding and said she'd brought a raincoat. Luckily, the rain held off. Less fortunately, the table leg made it difficult for me to wheel my chair under it, meaning I had to do a Tom Daley-style swan dive every time I reached for my drink. At least I didn't knock it date was fun - but there was no romantic spark. Rozena admitted her interest in music didn't extend beyond musicals. And while she claimed to be joking, I suspect her disappointment that I wasn't as aligned with her passion for theatre may have been we have discovered there was no chemistry had we met on an app with a pre-date chat function? It's impossible to say. But the limited pre-meet communication window seemed to make us both more engaged when we met in I told Rozena I was thinking of writing an article about the app, she told me she'd been on a few dates through it. One drawback she'd discovered was that her matches weren't always close by – she'd had dates travel from hours away to meet up. Perhaps this is due to a growing user base. After finishing our drinks and saying goodbye, the app's chat window stayed open for a few hours, meaning we could check each other had reached home was an opportunity to exchange numbers via the app if both parties wished to. I received a message saying Rozena had declined, but she left a note saying she had had a lovely time. I am unable to contact her again, but it gave closure. No on this new approach to online dating, I wonder if we are going full circle, pining for the traditional dating culture of the pre-internet age? Sure, it didn't work out this time for me and my date, but it felt much more human, less isn't unique in trying to do something different to help daters find love, but my experience on it made me realise that chatting beforehand can actually really help to build rapport ahead of a date (even if I do sometimes accidentally send essays). Even so, I'll probably continue to use Breeze, as it feels quite low my Hinge dating profile is still running and I'm chatting to four people there - who knows how many might lead to a date? Or perhaps I'll bump into the love of my life the old fashioned way - no phone, no algorithm. Imagine that.
The Guardian
31 minutes ago
- The Guardian
‘It wasn't an error': Ofqual boss defends regulator after withdrawn data row
England's chief regulator of exams has put up a staunch defence of Ofqual after it was forced to withdraw a decade of statistics detailing the number of students granted extra time and other assistance for A-levels and GCSEs. In his first interview with a national media organisation since his permanent appointment as head of Ofqual, and just weeks after the data was dramatically pulled, Sir Ian Bauckham said there had been no error in the figures, blaming instead the way they had been interpreted. He also denied that the data 'misunderstanding', which comes five years after Ofqual's disastrous attempt during Covid to award GCSE and A-level grades by algorithm, had further undermined confidence in the organisation, saying: 'We've got a qualification system in this country to be proud of.' In an interview with the Guardian, the chief regulator also addressed the debate surrounding the government's curriculum and assessment review, warning against any wholesale move from exams to coursework because of concerns about students' growing use of AI. He also urged caution over the introduction of digital exams, saying that any assessment innovation must be secure and deliverable, and should not disadvantage poorer students who may not have had the same access to digital devices and software as their wealthier peers. Ofqual, which was set up in 2010 to regulate qualifications in England, shocked the education sector when it announced on 17 July that it was withdrawing official statistics for special access arrangements for exams going back to 2014, because they 'significantly overstated' the number of students. Access arrangements are adjustments to exams for students with special needs, disabilities or injuries, with 25% extra time being the most common. In 2012-13, 107,000 students in England were granted extra time, but in 2024 Ofqual said it was nearly 420,000 students, an increase of nearly 300%. The data appeared to show that 30% of students had been granted 25% extra time last year, with particularly high rates in private schools where nearly 42% of students received adjustments. Ofqual now thinks the actual rate is far lower. Bauckham said the confusion had arisen because, rather than showing access arrangements solely for students entered for GCSEs and A-levels in one particular year, the data includes a much broader list of access arrangements. Each access arrangement lasts two years. There can be duplicate applications for the same student, and the list may include pupils with special arrangements in place who did not sit exams that year at all. 'It wasn't an error, because the published data only ever claimed to be the long list of approved access arrangements,' Bauckham said. 'It never claimed to be that data mapped against actual exam entries, but it was interpreted as that. 'I've been clear that moving forward … we need to publish actual granted access arrangements that relate to actual entries in the year in question.' He said the final figure is likely to be much more in line with the proportion of pupils in England with special education needs and disabilities (Send), which according to the most recent official statistics stands at 19.5%, including those with education, health and care plans 'Just because this figure is significantly lower, doesn't mean that there may not have been a rising trend,' Bauckham added. 'I would be very surprised indeed if the final data, when we're able to pinpoint it, doesn't indicate a rising trend. So I don't think it takes away the problem, but it alters the scale of what we're thinking about.' On what appeared to be a growing gap between the use of access arrangements between private and state schools, he said: 'Of course in independent schools there is a slightly higher proportion of Send than there is in state-funded schools. 'I don't think it's unreasonable to hypothesise that there will still be a difference between state-funded schools and independent schools, not least because of that higher Send figure, but I'm absolutely clear that we must have data that informs the public debate on this issue.' Bauckham, who after a year as interim chief regulator was permanently appointed in February, said Ofqual had moved on a long way from the chaos of Covid when exams were cancelled and grades calculated using an algorithm had to be scrapped. 'Five years later, we've moved back to examinations which are widely trusted as the fairest way to accredit and assess what students know, understand and can do,' he added. On the government's curriculum and assessment review, due to report later this year, the Ofqual chief acknowledged concerns about the volume of exams pupils currently face, but he warned against reducing assessment to a single paper per subject. Students 'really value the opportunity to have at least two bites at the cherry, by which I mean two opportunities in two separate exam papers in the same subject',' he said. He is in favour of AI being used to support teaching and students' learning. 'But I would be very concerned about moving wholesale to a system where exams were replaced by extended writing coursework, because that would, in current circumstances, be open to malpractice.' 'I'm not worried about the future of qualifications,' Bauckham said. 'I think qualifications are going to be needed more than ever in the future, but I think in education, we've got to be clear that students still need rigorous intellectual training. They still need mastery of key knowledge. 'We still need to set our sights high for them and we mustn't succumb to the confused thinking that says, because AI will enable future workplaces, we don't need students to know, understand and be able to do skills and demonstrate knowledge at a high level, because I think the opposite is true.'
The Guardian
32 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Social media ads promoting small boat crossings to UK to be banned
Ministers are to outlaw social media adverts promoting journeys on small boats across the Channel to asylum seekers. The government will create a UK-wide criminal offence that could lead to perpetrators being sentenced for up to five years in prison and a hefty fine. Though facilitating illegal immigration is already a crime, the change will make it a specific offence to create material for online publication that promotes or offers services that would lead to a breach of UK immigration law. This includes advertising small boat crossings, selling fake passports, visas and other travel documents, and promoting opportunities for illegal work in the UK. Ministers will make the change via an amendment to the border security bill, which is making its way through its final stages in the House of Lords. Eighty per cent of migrants who arrived in the UK on small boats told government officials that they had used social media during their journey, including to locate or communicate with people smugglers, according to Home Office data. The department said it wanted to crack down on smugglers selling a false narrative about life in the UK to desperate asylum seekers by criminalising those promising illegal work online. Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, said: 'Selling the false promise of a safe journey to the UK and a life in this country – whether on or offline – simply to make money, is nothing short of immoral. Sign up to Headlines UK Get the day's headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning after newsletter promotion 'These criminals have no issue with leading migrants to life-threatening situations using brazen tactics on social media. We are determined to do everything we can to stop them – wherever they operate.' The change will also make it a crime to post online content that encourages someone to break UK immigration law in exchange for money. Rob Jones, the director general for operations at the National Crime Agency (NCA), said: 'We know many of the people-smuggling networks risking lives transporting people to the UK promote their services to migrants using social media. The majority of migrants arriving in the UK will have engaged with smugglers in this way.' The NCA has taken action against organised crime groups using social media to promote crossings, including a south Wales-based gang convicted in November 2024 after smuggling thousands of people across Europe. The gang used social media videos posted by people who had made successful crossings to promote the service. Another network operated by the Preston-based smuggler Amanj Hasan Zada, who was later jailed for 17 years, also posted videos of people thanking Zada for helping them. There have been cases of Albanian people smugglers who have used social media to promote £12,000 'package deals' to get to the UK including accommodation and employment, which will also fall under the scope of the new law.
