The BBC’s latest bodice-ripping period drama The Scandalous Lady W is based on the true story of Lady Worsley, whose juicy public divorce case gripped society in the 18th century.

The series, starring Game Of Thrones beauty Natalie Dormer, begins tonight on BBC Two and is promised to be a racy affair in itself.

Lady Seymour Worsley found herself trapped in a torturous marriage to Sir Richard Worsley, played by Endeavour’s Shaun Evans, who took perverted pleasure in watching her have sex with other men.

Aneurin Barnard, Natalie Dormer and Shaun Evans in The Scandalous Lady W
Lady Worsley married Sir Richard, but then eloped with his friend George Bisset (BBC)

But rather than accept her fate in a time when men dominated women, Lady W decided to escape by eloping with his best friend, George Bisset, played by Aneurin Barnard, most recently seen opposite Sheridan Smith in Cilla.

Her angry husband sued the couple for divorce, but Lady W fought back in the courts and contested his claims, making for a scandalous case that had the public at the time gripped.

Natalie Dormer in a love scene in The Scandalous Lady W
There will be racy scenes in Natalie Dormer’s new drama (BBC)

Natalie is no stranger to racy sex scenes, having starred in The Tudors and Game Of Thrones. And there is no denying The Scandalous Lady W will feature some raunchy love making that may make some viewers blush.

The shocking details of what went on behind the bedroom the door during her marriage and her love affair with Bisset certainly helped her case. It was perhaps one of the very first scandals that had people running out to buy the latest newspaper so they could find out the next tantalising titbit that had been exposed in court.

But it would not do justice to Lady W’s story to dismiss it as mere titillation.

Natalie Dormer and Aneurin Barnard as Lady Seymour Worsley and her lover George Bisset in The Scandalous Lady W
There is more to The Scandalous Lady W than bodice-ripping (BBC)

The public and press support for Lady W was a breakthrough for women’s rights. She refused to be treated merely as her husband’s “property” and to “love, honour and obey” if he wasn’t going to treat her properly.

At the time there were no laws to protect women against violence in marriage, and when they wed – not always to men of their own choosing – they gave up all their money and possessions to their husbands.

And if a woman was unhappy in marriage, she had no right to sue them for divorce or adultery, only men could do that. Their only option was to elope, destroying their own reputations and most likely losing the right to ever see their children again.

So as feisty as Lady W may have been between the sheets, by contesting her husband’s divorce case in court she was showing a new kind of strength. One that we should celebrate.