2 years ago
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ARTICLE AD BOX
Image source, PA Media
L-R: Chanel Cresswell (as Coleen Rooney), Sheen (David Sherborne KC), Natalia Tena (Rebekah Vardy) and Simon Coury (Hugh Tomlinson KC)
By Steven McIntosh
Entertainment reporter
Michael Sheen will star in a new drama about the so-called Wagatha Christie case on Channel 4 later this year.
The actor, known for portraying real-life figures such as Chris Tarrant and Sir Tony Blair will play Coleen Rooney's barrister David Sherborne.
This Is England actress Chanel Cresswell will play Rooney while Harry Potter star Natalia Tena will portray Rebekah Vardy.
Channel 4's two-part film is titled Vardy v Rooney: A Courtroom Drama.
The network said it would recreate the "high drama, high stakes High Court defamation case that followed" Mrs Rooney's now-infamous social media post in 2019, in which she accused Vardy of leaking private stories about her to the press.
The broadcaster said the case "had a huge impact on the lives of the two women at its heart and catapulted the two sparring legal teams into the spotlight where, much like Rooney and Vardy, their every move in the courtroom was dissected and scrutinised in the press".
Vardy's barrister, Hugh Tomlinson, will be portrayed by Simon Coury, best known for appearing in The Professor And The Madman.
Rooney's husband, the footballer Wayne Rooney, will be played by Dion Lloyd and Jamie Vardy by Marci Nagyszokolyai.
The show has been created from the court transcripts and will air before the end of the year.
Image source, PA Media
Image caption,Mrs Vardy (right) lost her libel action against Mrs Rooney earlier this year
It is not the only TV show exploring the case - in August, Disney+ confirmed it was creating a three-part documentary series about the court battle with "exclusive access" to Coleen Rooney.
The BBC is also understood to be working on its own documentary, made by Curious Films.
Earlier this summer, Vardy, 40, lost her libel battle against 36-year-old Rooney, who said she had carried out a months-long sting operation to uncover who had been passing information about her to the Sun newspaper.
A High Court judge found Mrs Rooney's allegation was "substantially true".
Mrs Rooney's sleuthing efforts saw her dubbed Wagatha Christie in reference to the popular mystery writer Agatha Christie.
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