A university official is set to receive “substantial damages” after settling with the makers of a film that portrayed him in a “untrue and defamatory” light.
Richard Taylor, the former deputy registrar at the University of Leicester, has won his case against actor Steve Coogan and two production companies, Pathe Productions and Baby Cow.
He brought a libel claim to the high court over the 2022 film The Lost King which dramatised events surrounding the discovery of the bones of Richard III underneath a car park in Leicester in 2012.
Last year a judge ruled that Taylor, now chief operating officer at the University of Loughborough, was portrayed in “a negative light” throughout the film that was co-written by and starred Coogan.
Before a full trial was due to take place, Taylor announced on 27 October that he had settled the case, and he will receive an undisclosed “substantial” settlement. The companies have also agreed to change the film and not to repeat the defamatory statements.
Taylor said the film-makers had “finally accepted that their film is an untrue and defamatory portrayal of me and the search for Richard III. It is a reckless hit job on my reputation and that of my academic colleagues”.
He said errors made in the film had “erased the critical contribution that my academic colleagues made in leading the archaeological search and conducting the scientific analysis that led to the discovery of Richard III”.
“Our work is twisted into a false caricature of university elitism, ivory-towers and self-interest,” he added.
Taylor said the discovery of the remains – which made headlines around the world – was thanks to “a triumph of collaboration”, involving the work of Philippa Langley, the writer who initiated the search, academics at Leicester and himself who “could have dropped Philippa’s approach for help into the waste bin when it arrived in 2011”.
“This outcome belongs to the team of academics, volunteers and experts whose skill, dedication, and integrity helped make this extraordinary achievement possible, and showed British universities at their collaborative best,” Taylor’s statement added.
“This has been a long and gruelling battle. I am grateful to my family, my colleagues, and my legal team for standing by me in defending my name and our universities – and, in a small way, pushing back against the post-truth culture that pervades today.”
Daniel Jennings, defamation partner at Shakespeare Martineau, who represented Mr Taylor, said the case was a “David and Goliath moment”.
He said there was a trend for those making film, television or journalism to claim to be depicting the “true account” of events.
The ruling could therefore be the first of many, Jennings warned, and should “act as a real warning for anyone looking to use those tactics”.
Baby Cow and Pathe were contacted for comment.
tom.williams@timeshighereducation.com
