EXCLUSIVE: “Where there’s a hit, there’s a false writ,” Vertigo Films co-founder James Richardson has declared after a judge threw out a lawsuit, in which a writer claimed that Vertigo’s Roman Empire series Britannia was stolen.
Penned by Jez Butterworth and Tom Butterworth, Britannia ran for three seasons on Sky before its cancellation in 2023. Starring The Walking Dead actor David Morrissey as a military leader who spearheads the Roman invasion of Britannia, the drama aired on Amazon Prime Video and later Epix in the U.S.
Benjamin Crushcov, a writer and teacher, alleged in a High Court lawsuit that Sky misappropriated his idea and original script for Britannia, and then conspired to cover up the drama’s true origins. Executive producer Richardson was named as a defendant in the £6.5M ($8.7M) lawsuit, as was Karen Hyland, a journalist who Crushcov accused of taking a copy of his work and handing it to Richardson.
In his particulars of claim, Crushcov said he created a heavily fictionalized historical drama, titled Tribus, as part of his studies at Bath Spa University in 2014. He said his work has “numerous striking similarities” to Britannia, which was greenlit by Sky in 2016, including series structures, character arcs and names, and plot points.
Crushcov alleged that Hyland, a former television writer at News UK, stole a copy of his script in 2016 and it was passed to Richardson. Crushcov did not evidence how his work switched hands, but alleged that Hyland and Richardson were acquainted.
In a ruling on Tuesday, High Court judge Paul Matthews said he saw no “compelling reason” for a trial because he did not agree that Crushcov’s scripts were plagiarized.
“Not only are the stories that are told in the claimant’s script and the Butterworths’ scripts completely different, but the descriptions of the similarities are so general that they could apply to a great many things which do not resemble each other in any significant way. And that is without even considering the possibility of coincidence,” Matthews said.
“All the scripts … are written against the same historical background: the invasion of Britain by the Romans in 43 AD, at a time when the British tribes were not united, but feuding between themselves. I do not find it at all surprising that professional television scriptwriters should think along the same lines, introducing moments of calm, happiness, tension, terror and so on at appropriate intervals, using tried and tested dramatic tropes.”
Having established that Crushcov’s scripts were not passed off, Matthews added that the rest of his argument “really loses steam.” This included his allegation of theft against Hyland, with the judge saying Crushcov had “no direct evidence” to support his claim.
Richardson told Deadline: “With the case thrown out before it ever went to court [trial], I’m glad we can all finally close the door to years of wasted time, money and false accusations. Many of my producer colleagues have to deal with these kinds of cases all the time, often behind closed doors.
“They take years to deal with, question the artistic integrity of projects such as Britannia whose originality we are very proud of and affect innocent people not even connected to the project. Where there’s a hit, there’s a writ is a truism. Where there’s a hit, there’s a false writ, is perhaps even truer.”
Crushcov, who represented himself in court against three barristers, said he planned to appeal. “This ruling is a setback, but in my view, overlooks clear evidence and key witness statements. I remain adamant that Tribus served as a blueprint for Britannia and that’s not just my own subjective opinion. I believe the court did not fully appreciate the sheer volume of similarities when viewed holistically and, in my opinion, misinterpreted the adapted elements as original.”
Sky declined to comment.
