Steve Coogan and Film Producers to Pay ‘Substantial Damages’ Over Defamatory Portrayal in The Lost King
In a striking legal turn, Steve Coogan and the production companies behind The Lost King have agreed to pay “substantial damages” to Richard Taylor, the Wombwell-born academic whose portrayal in the film was found to be defamatory.
The 2022 film, fronted and co-written by Coogan and produced by Pathé Productions, dramatized the extraordinary 2012 discovery of King Richard III’s remains beneath a Leicester car park, a find that captivated the nation.
But for Taylor, then deputy registrar at the University of Leicester, the story became a personal ordeal.
Taylor played a pivotal role in coordinating the archaeological dig that unearthed the long-lost king. The project was a landmark in British archaeology, a blend of science, history, and determination.
But when The Lost King hit cinemas, the version of events it presented left Taylor feeling betrayed.
Last year, High Court Judge Jaron Lewis ruled that the film depicted Taylor as “knowingly misrepresenting facts to the media and the public,” and as “smug, unduly dismissive and patronizing”, a characterization carrying defamatory meaning.
A trial was set to begin this week. Instead, a settlement has been reached.
Richard Taylor, now Chief Operating Officer at Loughborough University, said: “The producers of ’The Lost King’, including Steve Coogan, have 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.
The producers will pay substantial damages to me and cover the very significant costs of my legal team, and have agreed to make key changes to the film.
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.
This irresponsible failure 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.
That Steve Coogan, a man who has publicly condemned the media for misrepresentation and intrusion, stridently, at the Leveson Inquiry, should be at the center of broadcasting defamatory misrepresentations about others, in my opinion, is hypocrisy of the highest order.”
Taylor’s solicitor, Daniel Jennings, praised his client’s perseverance, calling the case a modern David and Goliath story.
“This is a David and Goliath moment and confirms what Mr Taylor has always believed – that his portrayal in ‘The Lost King’ was damaging, harmful, and untrue.
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.”
Jennings warned of a growing trend in the entertainment industry, blurring fact and fiction in pursuit of headlines and profits.
“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 labeled as ‘true accounts’ to grab audience attention and generate media buzz around new releases.
Mr Taylor’s win should act as a real warning for anyone looking to use those tactics.
It’s been a long battle for Mr Taylor, which has ended successfully; however, it’s hard to ignore the fact that the shine has been taken off what should have been a moment of celebration for one of the country’s greatest archaeological discoveries.”
The outcome serves as a stark reminder to filmmakers: creative license cannot stretch to defamation. The film will now be amended, and the offending depictions removed.
For Taylor, it marks the end of a bruising chapter, one that began with a moment of national pride but spiraled into a years-long legal fight.
The irony is not lost on many that Steve Coogan, often a critic of media distortion, now finds himself on the receiving end of the very accusations he once condemned.
A story about truth, discovery, and reputation, and a reminder that even in cinema, facts still matter.
