Jessie Buckley, Olivia Colman, and Timothy Spall in a dark comedy that keeps the audience guessing. What’s not to like?

Wicked Little Letters, the 2023 film by director Thea Sharrock that is based on the Littlehampton letters scandal from the early 1900s, airs on Channel 4 and is available online from the evening of Saturday 18 July.

Buckley stars as Rose Gooding, an Irish migrant who settled into the small seaside town and struck up an unlikely friendship with her neighbour: the sanctimonious and deeply conservative Edith Swan (Colman).

The arrival of some obscene letters triggered a series of events that would blow up their friendship and rock both the Littlehampton community and the nation.

Intrigued? Read on for everything you need to know about the scandal behind Wicked Little Letters, including what happened to Edith in real life.

Is Wicked Little Letters based on a true story?

Yes, while the film does take some artistic license here and there, it is inspired by the events that unfolded in Littlehampton between 1918 and 1923. Both Rose and Edith existed in real life.

The saga began when Rose moved to the small seaside town of Littlehampton, Sussex, in 1918.

Rose had welcomed her daughter Dorothy out of wedlock three years before marrying her husband, Bill, which was frowned upon at the time.

Nevertheless, Rose soon formed a friendship with her neighbour, Edith Swan, with the pair bonding over their household work. Edith wrote out a recipe for chutney and lent Rose knitting patterns for socks, while Rose lent Edith a tin bath.

But their friendship soon turned sour after they fell out over their communal garden, and Edith quietly plotted her revenge.

Edith started sending foul-mouthed postcards in Rose’s name, which were filled with obscene language and outrageous accusations.

At first, insults ranged from cow and bl**dy, but got increasingly obscene, according to the Daily Mail, which covered the case at the time.

Posing as Rose, Edith even wrote to tell her fiancé Bert – who was serving in the British forces in Iraq at the time – that she had fallen pregnant by another man, causing him to call off their wedding plans.

Edith, who modern day historians suspect had mental health issues, went on to launch a private prosecution against Rose, who appeared before Littlehampton magistrates and was charged with criminal libel in September 1920.

Rose returned home after spending three months behind bars.

But her ordeal wasn’t over yet, as Edith stuck again, sending letters once more and landing Rose back in court.

Rose’s barrister attempted to clear her name, producing the handwritten knitting instructions and chutney recipe given to her by Edith, pointing out that the handwriting resemble the penmanship on the letters.

But, despite the efforts of her barrister, Rose was jailed for 12 months with hard labour.

Speaking about how he couldn’t believed the film was inspired by a true story, cast member Timothy Spall, who plays Edith’s father, Edward Swan, told RadioTimes.com: “I read it and assumed it was a very well realised conceit. But it’s not, and I was delighted to find that it was based on truth!”

He continued: “And sometimes you go. ‘Well course it was’, because these preposterous things often work because you go ‘Really?’”

What happened to the real Edith Swan?

Edith’s web of lies began to unravel shortly after Rose’s second sentence.

After Rose was sentenced the second time, Edith penned more obscenities in a notebook and posted it to the police, claiming it was found near the Gooding’s house on a street.

While Edith had seemingly been trying to strengthen her case against Rose, it ended up having the opposite effect, with the police identifying similarities between the handwriting inside the notebook and the accompanying letter from Edith.

Rose was released three months into her sentence.

The notebook incident prompted Scotland Yard to send Inspector George Nicholls to investigate the libel case.

George asked local policewoman Gladys Moss to watch the Swans’ house from a neighbouring shed, and Gladys witnessed Edith throwing a piece of paper near Violet May’s backdoor. Violent was a neighbour that Rose had previously targeted.

Edith was put on trial in 1921, but the judge refused to believe she could be capable of using such foul language.

It wasn’t until 1923 that detectives hatched a plan to get enough evidence to convict Edith.

They marked a set of postage stamps with invisible ink and instructed the post office to sell them to Edith and so, when Edith struck again the following June, the detectives were able to trace the letters back to her.

In July, the Lewes Crown Court jury found Edith guilty.

Judge Avory respected the jury’s decision and sentenced Edith to 12 months behind bars, but reportedly said he found it unfathomable that a “respectable, clean-mouthed woman” like Edith could be capable of writing such “filth”.

Edith died in March, 1959, in North View Home, East Preston, a residential home which had previously been the site of a workhouse.