{"id":103537,"date":"2025-10-27T14:00:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T14:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/103537\/"},"modified":"2025-10-27T14:00:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T14:00:11","slug":"man-wins-substantial-damages-over-portrayal-in-steve-coogan-richard-iii-film","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/103537\/","title":{"rendered":"Man wins ‘substantial damages’ over portrayal in Steve Coogan Richard III film"},"content":{"rendered":"

Laura Hammond,East Midlands and <\/p>\n

Lizo Mzimba,Entertainment correspondent<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Lost King<\/p>\n

The film told the story of the search for Richard III’s remains in 2012<\/p>\n

A university academic is to be awarded “substantial damages” after a court ruled the portrayal of him in a Steve Coogan film about the discovery of a Richard III’s remains did have a defamatory meaning.<\/p>\n

Richard Taylor sued the comedian, who wrote the film The Lost King, as well as his production company Baby Cow, and Pathe Production.<\/p>\n

It was announced on Monday that Mr Taylor, who was unhappy about the way his character was portrayed, had been successful in his claim.<\/p>\n

The film, which told the story of the search for the Plantagenet monarch under a Leicester council car park in 2012, will be changed and defamatory comments not repeated.<\/p>\n

Mr Taylor launched High Court action claiming the film had made him appear “misogynistic” and “weasel-like”.<\/p>\n

Speaking to the BBC outside the Royal Courts of Justice following the court’s decision, Mr Taylor said: “I’m really pleased that we have finally established that the film is a defamatory portrayal of me – baseless in its depiction of me and a distortion of the search for Richard III.<\/p>\n

“And I don’t let that detract from what was a fantastic piece of teamwork, a collaborative experience where university academics and amateurs came together to search for Richard III.<\/p>\n

“But it’s fantastic now, that we have established in court that The Lost King is a misleading, defamatory, untrue portrayal of what happened in Leicester back in 2012.”<\/p>\n

\"SuppliedSupplied<\/p>\n

Richard Taylor’s lawyers described the settlement as a “defamation David and Goliath moment”<\/p>\n

The Lost King focused on the role of historian Philippa Langley in the search, which involved archaeologists from the University of Leicester.<\/p>\n

Mr Taylor was the deputy registrar of the University of Leicester at the time and was later played in the film by actor Lee Ingleby.<\/p>\n

In June, Judge Jaron Lewis ruled the film portrayed Mr Taylor<\/a> as having “knowingly misrepresented facts to the media and the public” about the discovery, and as being “smug, unduly dismissive and patronising”, which could be defamatory.<\/p>\n

The case was due to proceed to trial, but lawyers for Mr Taylor told a hearing on Monday that the parties had settled the claim.<\/p>\n

‘Remarkable contribution’<\/p>\n

In a statement after the hearing, Mr Taylor – now the chief operating officer at Loughborough University – added: “Whilst it is clear to me that the defendants were misled as to the events of the discovery, they made a deliberate choice to accept those accounts, failing to speak or check basic facts.<\/p>\n

“Our work is twisted into a false caricature of university elitism, ivory towers and self-interest.”<\/p>\n

Mr Taylor said Philippa Langley’s initiation of the project and “driving confidence” had made it possible for Richard III to be found. <\/p>\n

He added: “Hers was a remarkable contribution. But it did not extend to leading the archaeological search or scientific analysis, for which she was neither qualified nor experienced to lead.<\/p>\n

“I could have dropped Philippa’s approach for help into the waste bin when it arrived in 2011, and there have been days over the last three years when I wished that I had. <\/p>\n

“But I didn’t, and my decision to deploy the resources and expertise of the university enabled this search to happen.”<\/p>\n

‘A real warning’<\/p>\n

Daniel Jennings, defamation partner at Shakespeare Martineau, which represented Mr Taylor, described it as a “defamation David and Goliath moment”.<\/p>\n

He said: “Individuals often feel unable to speak up against large corporations and well-known personalities, but this win demonstrates that there is recourse when wrongs have been committed.<\/p>\n

“We live in an era of documentaries, podcasts and very public investigative journalism and there’s a growing trend for film and television productions to be labelled as ‘true accounts’ to grab audience attention and generate media buzz around new releases.<\/p>\n

“Mr Taylor’s win should act as a real warning for anything looking to use those tactics.<\/p>\n

“The law is very clear and there are defined routes to compensation for individuals who find themselves misrepresented.”<\/p>\n

A joint statement from Pathe Productions, Baby Cow Productions and Steve Coogan added: “As a distributor and producer recognised for bringing complex, real-life stories to audiences, we are deeply aware of the responsibility that comes with such portrayals and approach each project with care, integrity, and a commitment to authenticity. <\/p>\n

“We remain incredibly proud of this film and are pleased this matter has now been settled.”<\/p>\n

\"PAPA Media<\/p>\n

Steve Coogan’s lawyers previously said the film was not a literal portrayal of events<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Laura Hammond,East Midlands and Lizo Mzimba,Entertainment correspondent The Lost King The film told the story of the search…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":103538,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[430,156,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-103537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103537\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}