The Trial of Christine Keeler

Profumo was the scandal that had everything: the minister! the spy! the call girl! the man in the mask! Ostensibly, this drama focuses on Christine Keeler, the primary young woman involved in the scandal, but like most latter-day accounts come to concentrate almost inevitably on the figure of the pimp. In fact, Stephen Ward wasn't really a pimp, more of a scapegoat, a social climbing osteopath who traded for status, not for money, introducing pretty young girls to an elite social circle. On one hand, it's hard to see his actions (and, indeed, the scandal in toto) as amounting to very much: men like to be around pretty girls, and rich and glamorous men can manage this, maybe even without having to explicitly pay - and it's nonsense to pretend that there's never any transactional quality to sex. On the other hand, there might seem to be something wrong when, in words attributed to Valerie Profumo in this drama, "life as a teenage girl is like being invited to a wonderful picnic, then discovering that you're the sandwich." Ward is hardly an admirable figure; but after the affair had nearly brought down the government, he was (absurdly) prosecuted for living off immoral earnings, and, abandoned by his high society friends, committed suicide.

'The Trial of Christine Keeler' is not bad, but it is quite long - the film 'Scandal' dealt with the same material more succinctly. It's portrayal of Keeler is persuasive but not so interesting; James Norton plays Ward, and although at first I disliked the performance (not because it was bad, simply because I loved John Hurt's more sympathetic performance in 'Scandal'), it grew on me. Some of the best content is on its depiction of the Profumos, in the background in 'Scandal', but here we get a compelling portrait of Jack's sense of entitlement, while also seeing how his marriage managed to work, and survive in spite of public humiliation.

Today the Profumo affair might seem to belong to a more innocent age, when we expected our supposed betters to behave (or at least, to misbehave in private) - it seems surprising that a tenuous connection between a minister and a spy could have been enough to ultimately play a large part in the resignation of a previously popular prime minister. But the era of "me too" has not just exposed stories of genuinely monstrous behaviour, but also raised questions about how women still have to negotiate a world where men hold all the cards. Ward was no Weinstein; but some of the issues are the same.

At first I enjoyed it but thought it was nothing special but it warmed up nicely to the point the last 2 episodes were near perfection. A strong telling of a very worthwile true story. James Norton in particular was fantastic.

This six part BBC drama follows the channel's success two years before of its earlier treatment of another significant British historical/political scandal in the Houses of Parliament, the Jeremy Thorpe / Norman Scott affair. However, even as the years recede, ownership of that word scandal still belongs primarily to John Profumo, the Conservative war minister caught up in a sex scandal revolving around his involvement with the young Christine Keeler.

Conveniently, it seems, waiting until the last of the major players in this act had expired, being Ms Keeler herself in 2018, the way was clear for a pretty much no-holds barred expose of the crisis that with its accusations of sleaze at the highest levels of government arguably fatally winged Prime Minister Harold MacMillan's government of the day so that a bare year later he had resigned and the Tories 13 year long reign of power was ended by Labour under Harold Wilson.

Christine Keeler's own actual court trial for perjury doesn't occur until the final episode but the title of the series makes us aware that she herself was perpetually on trial in the public eye as she came under constant scrutiny the minute her involvement with both Profumo and Russian spy Yevgeny Ivanov came to light. Christine met both men at debauched parties convened by osteopath Stephen Ward to high society gents where he put attractive young women like her and her even younger friend Mandy Rice Davies in the way of middle aged men of wealth, title and influence.

In the aftermath of the story dragging Profumo onto the front pages of the all-powerful national press of the day, he of course lost his position, Keeler and Davies ended up in jail but not after making comparative fortunes from selling their stories to the papers and of course the main victim in the fall-out was Ward, who was effectively made society's scapegoat and firstly saw his profitable medical practice as well as his sideline work as a portrait artist collapse when his former friends in high places conveniently abandoned him. He then found himself on trial himself on trumped-up charges for living off so-called immoral earnings of Keeler and Davies. Railroaded by the police and at the mercy of a partial judge, he was bound to be found guilty prompting him to take the overdose which killed him before his verdict was inconsiderately delivered in absentia.

The direction, even though it sometimes confused with its plethora of flashbacks which sometimes disjointed the narrative, and acting throughout I thought was of a high standard by its largely well-cast ensemble, with perhaps just a few exceptions, commendably fleshing out the story. Of these, I felt that Emilia Fox as Profumo's pitiable actress wife and Neil Morrissey as Keeler's money-grabbing dad were miscast and out of their depth, while in the wider narrative I was surprised that at no stage in the story did P.M. MacMillan make an appearance.

The three main parties to the story of Keeler, Davies and Ward were excellently played by Sophie Cookson, Ellie Bamber and James Norton and even if Ben Miles didn't look much like the real Profumo, he certainly conveyed the man's privileged cake-and-eat-it hauteur, until he was caught literally with his pants down.

All in all, this seemed to me a realistic and fascinating dramatisation of a story which still resonates today and the watching of which, particularly its imbalanced treatment of the main players, still makes the blood boil today.

I don't know how a audience can give assessment to a series by just one or two episodes. But some of the low score comments really irritates me. People may get wrong impression basing on such rash verdict.To avoid this, I feel obligated to give my assessment earlier than my usual way. It makes a good beginning in my eyes.I got at least 2 concerns about the story. The first of them is the mysterious identity of Stiffen, Why he cumulated the secrets of the politicians?for personal interest or for a national one. The second one is whether the story will end up as Jeffrey Epstein. By the way,I'm a audience from China.

This 'based on true events' drama is a creative imagining of the 'sleezy' world of sex and power in the British government in the early nineteen sixties. It is well written, cast and acted with stellar performances from well known British actors such as James Norton, Ben Miles, Michael Maloney, Anton Lesser and Tim McInnerny.

"They decided to punish us and then decided on the crime" just about sums up the message of this powerful drama. It left me with a strong sense that, though we can blame individuals or institutions, in the end it's we, the public, who decide the fate of those we love to hate.

On reflection this drama does something rather clever. It puts us in the shoes of the teenage Christine Keeler and shows us how she saw Stephen as a trustworthy friend - in many ways, just as vulnerable as she was.

In fact this drama should have been called 'The Trial of Stephen Ward' - as this is by far the most dramatic part of the story. James Norton is fabulous as the bohemian doctor who is presented as an artistic innocent who 'could not hate anyone'. At first I found him creepy and annoying (please don't say 'little baby' again!) - but he grew on me as a free spirit who is authentic in his friendships - helping me understand how the young Christine could fall for him and trust him.

We like clear cut lines on who we should be rooting for. But in this historical social drama the boundaries are blurred - just like in real life. However - we have to remind ourselves that all Stephen's friends are either young girls or powerful men... and we can't ignore that he was - whether he (or she) knew it or not - grooming them...

It's a great thought provoking and disturbing production and I thoroughly recommend it.