Channel 4 's Wagatha Christie drama is probably going to get a thumbs up from viewers.
But actor Michael Sheen, who is starring as Coleen Rooney 's lawyer in the two-parter, reckons she and Rebekah Vardy were treated like gladiators during the trial in May.
"It seemed a crucible of everything about our culture at the moment," he says. "Two women treated almost as participants in a gladiatorial arena."
But the actor - who plays David Sherborne - admits he felt uncomfortable about the WAGs' cross examination at the libel trial, which Coleen won.
"There is something incredibly unsettling about watching two privileged, posh white men trying to destroy two working class women," he tells the Radio Times.
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He says lawyers for Rooney (played by Chanel Cresswell) had to "absolutely destroy [Vardy's] credibility and reputation". He adds: "As an actor, it's all grist to the mill but in terms of real life, that’s rough".
Harry Potter star Natalia Tena plays Vardy and describes her as a "warrior". She says the pair exchange "friendly" messages – via Vardy’s Instagram account.
The channel said its project “recreates the high drama, high stakes High Court defamation case” based on court transcripts.
It also imagines the “huge impact on the lives of the two women at its heart”.
In the trial, which gripped the nation this summer, Vardy, 40, lost a libel battle against 36-year-old Rooney over a viral social media post after a High Court judge found it was “substantially true”.
In the post, widely shared in October 2019, Rooney said she had carried out a months-long “sting operation” and accused Vardy of leaking “false stories” about her private life to the press.
Her sleuthing efforts saw her dubbed “Wagatha Christie” in reference to the popular mystery writer Agatha Christie and the term referring to sportsmen’s wives and girlfriends – wags.
The high-profile court case has also been turned into a West End play, with stage actress Lucy May Barker playing Vardy and Laura Dos Santos, who has appeared in Doctor Who, portraying Rooney.
Vardy v Rooney: A Courtroom Drama starts on December 21.
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