THE opening scene in the drama of Chris Huhne and Vicky Pryce finds the high-flying couple rubbing shoulders with politicians, journalists and academics at one of their famed soirées in the mid-2000s. The closing scene, set on March 11th, sees the former Liberal Democrat minister and his economist ex-wife both sentenced to eight months in prison.

The plot that has unfolded in the intervening years, culminating in 13 months of breathlessly reported trial proceedings, has all the makings of an excruciating morality play. Shortly after his appointment as energy secretary in 2010, Mr Huhne (once a correspondent for this newspaper) left his wife of 26 years for his media adviser. Ms Pryce soon set about orchestrating his downfall. That she had taken his penalty points for a speeding offence in 2003 provided the material for her vendetta, and with cavalier disregard for self-preservation she talked to Sunday newspaper reporters. The outcome—two prison sentences, two glittering careers wrecked, a family torn—was Pyrrhic indeed.

Over its final two months the story romped widely through British public life, with cameos from a number of colourful prominents. Having repeatedly protested his innocence, Mr Huhne pleaded guilty on February 4th; brows furrowed, commentators lamented the damage this did to MPs' public standing. Attention turned to the state of Britain's education system when the judge in Ms Pryce's first trial dismissed the jury after it submitted questions exposing "fundamental deficits in understanding". One question requested a definition of "reasonable doubt"—"doubt that is reasonable," the judge elucidated. More hands were wrung when it was reported that another judge, Constance Briscoe, had been dropped as a witness after being arrested on suspicion of lying to the police (Ms Briscoe says she has evidence to clear her name).

What has this high-profile and tortuous survey of professional conduct done to attitudes? Very little, it seems. Ipsos MORI, a pollster that regularly measures Britons' trust in various professions, surveyed opinion in the midst of the furore in mid-February and found no major change. Misbehaviour is priced in: fully 91% considered Mr Huhne's conduct "typical" of a few or most MPs. Meanwhile a new drama is brewing: both he and Ms Pryce are said to be planning comebacks.