It’s 1965, and two well-heeled British men share a fussy lunch where they surprisingly each confess a history of gay sexual encounters. “My wife insists that ‘gay’ means happy,” one groans. “I think she’s absolutely right,” the other says. “And I intend to be very happy — very many times in my life.”

Mission only partly accomplished. Because while there are plenty of lusty experiences in “A Very English Scandal,” actual happiness is either fake or fleeting in this three-part mini-series, based on an astounding true story of a politician who was charged with putting out a hit on his former lover.

The man staking out his happiness plan is the Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe (Hugh Grant), and the one listening is his close friend and fellow politician Peter Bessell (Alex Jennings). It’s a moment of overwhelming intimacy and disclosure, yet neither man much reacts, because there aren’t many big reactions at all in “A Very English Scandal,” which debuts Friday on Amazon.

It’s, well, very English, depicting and critiquing midcentury Britain’s haughty propriety, deep homophobia and posh insularity.