Portrayal of ‘devious’ and ‘weasel-like’ character in Steve Coogan movie The Lost King is defamatory, high court judge rules

The image of an academic in a Steve Coogan The film about the discovery of Richard III’s remains is defamatory, a High Court judge ruled today.

Richard Taylor, formerly deputy registrar at the University of Leicester, had sued Mr Coogan, a writer and producer of the 2022 film The Lost King.

The film focuses on historian Phillipa Langley’s role in the search for the controversial king’s skeleton. The Plantagenet king’s lost remains were found in a car park in Leicester in 2012, more than 500 years after his death.

Mr Taylor, whose film character was played by British actor Lee Ingleby, took legal action against Mr Coogan, his production company Baby Cow and Pathe Productions over his portrayal in the film.

Taylors’ lawyers, William Bennett KC and Victoria Jolliffe, argued that their client was portrayed as “dismissive, condescending and misogynistic” towards Ms Langley, who was played by actress Sally Hawkins.

Richard Taylor, formerly deputy registrar at the University of Leicester, had sued Steve Coogan (pictured), a writer and producer of the 2022 film The Lost King

Mr Taylor argued that their client was portrayed as ‘dismissive, patronizing and misogynistic’ towards Ms Langley (left), who was played by actress Sally Hawkins. Coogan starred in the film, but not as Mr Taylor

The Lost King was released in 2022 and follows the story of ambitious writer and amateur historian Philippa Langley who unearths the remains of Richard III from a car park in Leicester.

They also say the film “misrepresented the facts about the search and discovery of Richard III’s remains to the media and the public.”

They said this was done ‘by deviously manipulating the public presentation of information about the find, so as to unjustly conceal Philippa Langley’s true role and to claim the credit that was rightfully hers for himself and the University of Leicester’.

The judge ruled Friday morning that Taylor’s portrayal was defamatory.

His Honor Judge Lewis said: “The character, Mr Taylor, was portrayed in a negative light throughout the film. At no point was he shown in a way that could be described as positive or even neutral.

“While any individual scene may not in itself cross the threshold of seriousness, taken together the film makes a powerful commentary on the claimant and the way he conducted himself when taking on a senior professional role for a university.

“The poor manner in which he was depicted behaving towards Ms Langley was contrary to the commonly shared values ​​of our society and would have been recognized as such by the hypothetically reasonable viewer.”

Coogan and the two production companies had defended the defamation claim.

Andrew Caldecott KC, on behalf of the Alan Partridge star and companies, previously said in written submissions: ‘It is a feature film, not a documentary.

‘It would be clear to the ordinary, reasonable viewer that the film is not a documentary, but a dramatization of events.

The judge ruled Friday morning that Taylor’s portrayal was defamatory. Pictured: Steve Coogan

‘The concept of fictional films based on real events is not new.’

Mr Caldecott said the film is ‘based on a true story’, adding: ‘It is not a literal representation of exact words… and would be taken as a representation of Ms Langley’s perception.’

The lawyer denied that Mr. Taylor appears to be sexist or misogynistic, adding that his “concern is about Ms. Langley’s amateur status and lack of historical expertise, not her gender.”

He continued: “While the film is clearly highly critical of Mr. Taylor and the university for sidelining Ms. Langley during the exhumation and subsequent discovery of the body and not giving her adequate credit, his clear motive is to promote the discovery to exploit to promote the university. commercial interests.

“No reasonable viewer would conclude that his motive was sexism or misogyny.”

Mr Caldecott also said Taylor was not portrayed as mocking Richard III’s disability, “and certainly not as mocking people with disabilities in general.”

Coogan is best known for creating the character Alan Partridge. He won critical acclaim last year for his portrayal of serial sex abuser Jimmy Savile in the BBC series The Reckoning.