Vardy v Rooney: The Cork women bringing Wagatha Christie to our TV screens
Vardy v Rooney: A Courtroom Drama stars Chanel Cresswell, Michael Sheen, Natalia Tena, and Simon Coury.
It had all the ingredients of a nail-biting drama — fame, betrayal, and a courtroom showdown avidly consumed through social media. Now television viewers will get their fix of the ‘Wagatha Christie’ libel trial, as a Channel 4 drama recreates the court case which gripped millions earlier this year.
It all kicked off when original WAG ('wife and girlfriend' in soccer parlance) Coleen Rooney, wife of former Manchester United player, Wayne, claimed Rebekah Vardy, wife of Leicester City player Jamie, had been leaking false stories about her to the press. This followed on from an Instagram ‘sting’ operation, which led to Rooney being dubbed ‘Wagatha Christie’.
Vardy later sued Rooney for libel and the action moved to the Royal Courts of Justice in London. The eagerly-awaited Channel 4 dramatisation, Vardy v Rooney: A Courtroom Drama, will bring viewers into the heart of this very British scandal — and behind the cameras are two Cork women, producer Julie Ryan and director Oonagh Kearney.
Ryan’s production company MK1 teamed up with the British outfit Chalkboard on the drama, going from pitch to completion in about six months. Ryan’s previous experience working on independent productions such as The Young Offenders feature film stood her in good stead on a project which required a quick turnaround.
“I have come from the indie world where I am used to things coming together quite fast and there is also something exciting about that. Once you have made some of your key decisions, then you have a sense of momentum and you keep moving forward with it,” she says.
One of those key decisions was filling the role of director on the project, and Ryan didn’t have to look far for her top pick, another Cork woman who cut her teeth on independent productions, Oonagh Kearney.
“Oonagh and I had chatted numerous times about working together before and we were just trying to find the right project and the right time. I thought Oonagh would be amazing for it,” says Ryan.
Kearney was ‘immediately hooked’ but as well as bringing the hugely ambitious project to fruition, she had another important delivery to consider — she was just coming out of her first trimester of pregnancy when she was offered the job. She says Ryan’s support and encouragement was invaluable.
“I rang Julie up and I said, I have to tell you something, 'I’m pregnant’, and the first thing she said was, ‘That’s amazing, congratulations’.
"The second thing she said was that she had been producing TV series in far-flung places when she had her own baby. It was so encouraging because I felt I was working with someone who knows it from the inside-out, who has belief and faith in me.”
Despite being pregnant, Kearney says she had "incredible energy” throughout the shoot in Hungary.
“Every pregnancy is different, but I had a brilliant time and I was working intensely, it was a fantastic experience.”
Kearney, from Ballintemple and a former pupil of the Ursuline Convent in Blackrock, began her film career as a casting director on The Wind that Shakes the Barley. She has steadily built a reputation for her distinctive touch as a director, garnering a host of awards for her 2018 short film Five Letters to the Stranger Who Will Dissect my Brain, inspired by a poem from Cork-based writer Doireann Ní Ghríofa.
While Vardy v Rooney might appear to be outside her usual realm, Kearney says it echoes one of the main themes in her work.
“It’s two women pitted against each other, and they have a different take on how they’ve been wronged. A lot of my work has always been interested in women, and women seeing women, so in that kind of way, it did feel like a fit.”
Kearney also relished the opportunity to helm a show with such wide appeal. “It's like a clashing of high and low culture. You have the Royal Courts of Justice with its traditions, so you have people who are interested in it from a legal point of view. Then there’s the people who are interested in football, or fashion, and there are people who just like an entertaining diversion from the world we’re living in today.
"It was a fantastic break to work on something that is going to have such a big audience, I haven’t had that before so I was really excited.”
When it came to the approach they would take to recreating the trial, all the required dramatic elements were already there, so it was just a matter of deciding how to frame the action.
There was an intensive research process, including consulting transcripts, witness statements and talking to journalists who had observed proceedings.
“I think there was around 7,000 pages of the transcript, which we had to condense down to roughly 90 pages,” says Ryan, from Lisgoold, and a former pupil of Coláiste an Phiarsaigh, Glanmire.
“At the end, we decided to distill it down to Rebekah’s day and Colleen’s two days [in the witness box]. It was a lot easier for us to focus on how we would tell the story once we decided to do that.”
As Kearney says, it’s hard to beat a good courtroom drama. She was also keen to capture the claustrophobic nature of the setting and how it would have felt for Vardy and Rooney.
“It's total live theatre, it’s so compelling. Also, it was a small courtroom… so we wanted to create that sense of intimacy and why it was important.
"The journalists were sitting on the jury benches, they said their feet were almost touching the feet of Vardy and Rooney — they had nowhere to hide. They had the QCs on their back, and they had the solicitor bench writing notes.
"That must have been terrifying — and yet, how did it happen? Because they decided to bring it to court.”
Ryan and Kearney are full of praise for the cast, especially Chanel Cresswell (This is England) as Coleen Rooney and Natalia Tena (Game of Thrones) as Rebekah Vardy. They also scored a coup in securing the talents of Michael Sheen to play Rooney’s formidable lawyer David Sherborne.
“I was pinching myself… I remember the moment when Julie confirmed that he was on board and it was like, wow, this is really happening,” says Kearney.
“He is one of the most charismatic and compelling actors of his generation and so well suited to this role. It’s a really strong cast and I was incredibly blessed to work with them, because they made it a joy and a privilege to turn up on set every day.”
It’s clear that Ryan and Kearney thrived on their collaboration and they hope to work together again.
“We absolutely still can’t believe our luck that we got to make this production,” says Ryan. “We have watched it a zillion times, a cut at least once a day for the last two months, it never gets old to us. We are really proud of what we have put together. We think it tells a really fair story and we hope that everyone enjoys it.”
And while Kearney has her hands full with a newborn, she says there may still be a celebration of her other milestone birth.
“My sister is saying she might have a party, especially as it’s showing Christmas week, so we can all sit down and watch it together.”
- Vardy v Rooney: A Courtroom Drama is on Channel 4 on Dec 21 and 22
