This show, written by Jeremy Brock and directed by Julian Jarrold (the pair previously worked together on the screen adaptation of that other study of class and privilege, Brideshead Revisited), has two interwoven plot lines that sustain it through its generous three-hour length. The first storyline revolves around Maitlis, as played with blonde hairdo and initially distracting husky baritone by the ever-chameleonic Ruth Wilson, who has her own history of abuse to contend with, in the form of an obsessive stalker, and who therefore prosecutes the Duke of York with the committed zeal of someone who truly believes in her work. The account of the machinations at the BBC is all mildly interesting, but Scoop added a layer of jeopardy in its suggestion that McAlister was only just clinging onto her job. Here, everyone is passionate, committed et cetera, and Maitlis’s eccentricities (owning a whippet; drinking vodka neat out of the freezer) are presented as nothing more than the side effects of being a passionate, committed journalist.

The more interesting storyline revolves around the grand old duke himself, played with appropriate sleaziness by Michael Sheen. In Scoop, Rufus Sewell’s buffoonish, crass Andrew was very much a supporting character, a teddy bear-collecting obsessive who can always be relied upon to say or do the wrong thing. However, in A Very Royal Scandal, he’s actively bad, a charmless ignoramus who barks “F*** off!” at any bowing and scraping flunkey who has the misfortune to cross his path, and who approaches his Newsnight interview with belligerent self-assurance, as if he was about to fight for his country in the Falklands again.