COMEDIAN Steve Coogan will pay substantial damages to a university boss for portraying him as a film’s sexist bully.
The actor, 60, co-wrote and starred in 2022’s The Lost King, about the quest to uncover the remains of Richard III.
Richard Taylor was part of the Leicester University team which located the grave of the king — often portrayed as having a hunched back — beneath a car park in the city.
But Mr Taylor sued for libel after being characterised as “smug, unduly dismissive and patronising”.
Alan Partridge star Coogan is a vocal campaigner for media fairness.
Last year, a judge found Coogan and two production companies “knowingly misrepresented facts” in the film, starring Sally Hawkins and Harry Lloyd.
Yesterday, lawyers for Mr Taylor told London’s High Court the parties had settled out of court and that he was being paid “substantial damages”.
Producers will also make changes to the film.
Mr Taylor called it vindication after “a long and gruelling battle”.
Mrs Justice Collins Rice said: “These were momentous historical events and finding yourself represented in a feature film about them must be an unsettling experience, even in the best of circumstances.
“I hope that this very clear statement and the settlement… will help Mr Taylor put this particular experience behind him. ”
Coogan, his production company Baby Cow, and Pathe Productions were not represented in court and did not attend.
However, the star said he was consulting lawyers over remarks made by Mr Taylor — and insisted of his film: “It is the story I wanted to tell, and I am happy I did.”