Featured Image Credit: Channel 4
Topics: Celebrity, TV And Film
Jake Massey
The first teaser for Channel 4's Wagatha Christie drama has been released.
Vardy v Rooney: A Courtroom Drama will retell the High Court battle between Rebekah Vardy and Colleen Rooney that gripped the nation.
Check out the teaser clip here:
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The two-part film delves into the libel battle between the footballers' wives (aka WAGs) following a viral social media post in October 2019, in which Coleen, 36, said she had carried out a 'sting operation' and accused Rebekah, 40, of leaking 'false stories' about her private life to the press.
Coleen is played by This is England actor Chanel Cresswell, while Rebekah is played by Harry Potter actor Natalia Tena.
Michael Sheen also stars as Colleen's barrister, David Sherborne.
A synopsis reads: "Dubbed the #WagathaChristie case when it first unfolded on social media in 2019, the audacious case about privacy that made headlines around the world.
"The two-part film recreates the high drama, high stakes High Court defamation case that followed, a case that 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.
"Created from the real court transcripts, Vardy v Rooney: A Courtroom Drama will bring viewers all of the incredible and unbelievable moments from a case that kept the public and media gripped."
Coleen, the wife of former England star Wayne Rooney, publicly claimed Rebekah's account was the source behind three fake stories she had posted on her private Instagram account.
Rebekah - who is married to Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy - denied leaking the stories and sued Rooney for libel, while Coleen defended the claim on the basis her post was 'substantially true'.
After a highly-publicised libel trial in May, judge Mrs Justice Steyn published her ruling in July, with Rebekah losing the case.
The judge said it was 'likely' that Vardy's agent at the time, Caroline Watt, 'undertook the direct act' of passing the information to The Sun.
But she added: "Nonetheless, the evidence … clearly shows, in my view, that Mrs Vardy knew of and condoned this behaviour, actively engaging in it by directing Ms Watt to the private Instagram account, sending her screenshots of Mrs Rooney's posts, drawing attention to items of potential interest to the press, and answering additional queries raised by the press via Ms Watt."
The drama will air later this year, with exact dates yet to be confirmed.