Sarah Churchill – Duchess of Marlborough – was the politically influential intimate and then, blackmailer of Queen Anne. Sarah Churchill was vividly brought to life in the film The Favourite, in which she was played by Rachel Weisz. But does the film do Sarah Churchill and Queen Anne justice? How close was it to the truth of this remarkable woman? In this edition of Historical Fiction, Alice Roberts talks to Ophelia Field whose 2002 biography of Sarah Churchill, also titled The Favourite, has recently been updated and re-published in paperback.