‘Anatomy of a Scandal’: I Can’t Believe This Show Hinges on Oxford Tutorial Partners

At first, Netflix‘s Anatomy of a Scandal appears to be a show about whether or not Rupert Friends‘ James Whitehouse did or did not sexually assault Olivia Lytton (Naomi Scott). After all, that’s the question that sets the show’s main plot into motion. We watch as Kate Woodcroft (Michelle Dockery) attempts to prove in a court of law that James did rape Olivia while James tries to convince his wife Sophie (Sienna Miller) that he is innocent of these charges. However, it soon becomes apparent that Anatomy of a Scandal is actually a show about Oxford tutorial partners. Sophie is dogged by memories of her tutorial partner Holly Berry (Nancy Farino) that turn out to be pretty darn important to the whole show’s plot. (Spoiler: it is revealed that Kate Woodcroft actually is Holly Berry.)

So Oxford tutorial partners… It’s a relationship that so many people the world over can relate to: the strange, scholastic bond between two students thrown together for a year at Oxford University. Why wouldn’t Netflix want to make a splashy thriller that hinges on this universal experience? I jest only because I had the opportunity my junior year of college to do a semester abroad at Oxford. I was one of about 20 American college kids paired together to study 20th Century British literature and history in a tutorial setting. That means, like Holly Berry and young Sophie (Hannah Dodd), I know the strangely intimate bond of being someone’s tutorial partner. I can also tell you that Anatomy of a Scandal’s Sophie was a shitty tutorial partner. Like, wow, she was bad!

Let’s back up for a second, because you might be watching Anatomy of a Scandal and wondering what are tutorial partners. Unlike most colleges, where large groupings of students meet a few times a week in a classroom or lab setting, Oxford still does tutorials. The tutorial system is synonymous with Oxford and Cambridge in the UK, as both schools invented them and still use them. Basically tutorials are very small study groups that meet once or twice a week with a professor. Studies for students are extremely self-directed. You basically are given a prompt or topic and told to do your own research and then write a paper defending a thesis based on your research. During the tutorial, you have to read said paper aloud and then defend your position while your professor lobs you with questions. You do this all in front of your tutorial partner (or partners). It’s a weirdly vulnerable experience!

Which is why I found it absolutely wild when we learn in Anatomy of a Scandal Episode 2 that Sophie would ask Holly to do her work for her! And that Holly obliged! The whole point of the tutorial system is that you are supposed to do your own research. My tutorial partner and I would sometimes confer on various books we were reading, but more often our interactions outside of tutorial were commiserating about how the professor dragged us. During tutorial, we might mildly debate finer points of each other’s papers, but we usually had each other’s backs. (The tutorial where I and my fellow Irish American partner had to go toe-to-toe with our very English professor on Northern Ireland was a doozy, let me tell you.)

So, yeah, the digs about Sophie’s intellect and privilege are well-earned! She not only can’t be bothered to do her own work, but she thinks it’s fine to ask her more studious partner to keep her afloat. I mean, for a show that’s all about the blind spots of privilege, I’m shocked they don’t underline this more. Of course, Sophie being a bad tutorial partner opens the door for her to become intimately familiar with Holly’s note-taking style, which is how Sophie figures out the connection. So I suppose there’s a method to this show’s madness. Still, I’m not sure most Americans will appreciate how galling it is that Holly does Sophie’s “homework” for her in this setting.

The strange focus Anatomy of a Scandal puts on Sophie and Holly’s relationship also feels a tiny bit hollow to me. Again, I understand this is what provides that twist, but I have no memory of my tutorial partner’s study style. The moment where Sophie is combing through social media looking for Holly rings far more true. Like I think my old partner follows me on Instagram, but I’m not 100% sure since I think she took her husband’s name. That one scene where Sophie is trying to track down what happened to Holly by looking at college friends’ follower lists is the most honest depiction of what happens to Oxford tutorial partnerships years later. Everything else in the show felt wild and sensational to me, but then Anatomy of a Scandal is wild and sensational at its core.

Still, I can’t stress enough what a bad tutorial partner Sophie was! I’m honestly still so mad about it.