Coogan to pay academic damages for Richard III film

Steve Coogan and two production companies are set to pay “substantial damages” to a university academic, settling a High Court libel case concerning his portrayal in the film The Lost King.

- CALLUM PARKE

Richard Taylor, currently chief operating officer at Loughborough University, initiated legal action against Coogan, his production company Baby Cow, and Pathe Productions.

The dispute centred on his depiction in the 2022 film, which chronicles writer Philippa Langley's quest to locate the remains of Richard III.

The Plantagenet king’s lost skeleton was famously discovered in a Leicester car park in 2012, more than 500 years after his death.

In June 2024, Judge Jaron Lewis determined that the film depicted Mr Taylor, who served as deputy registrar at the University of Leicester during the discovery, as having “knowingly misrepresented facts to the media and the public” regarding the find.

The judge also said the film portrayed Mr Taylor as “smug, unduly dismissive and patronising”, which had a defamatory meaning.

The case was due to proceed to trial, but lawyers for Mr Taylor told a hearing yesterday that the parties had settled the claim.