The Trial of Christine Keeler

[unique1986]

BBC drama starts 29th December 9pm

Yeah I know I'm early with this thread, but I can't wait.
I know nothing about this other than the brief articles I've read but it just looks like my kind of drama.

he may have been a man of questionable character but there appears to have been a true friendship.

Do 50 year old men really have 'true friendships' with teenaged girls?

A 'true friend' would have warned her about getting involved with Profumo. Ward did the opposite, and not out of 'friendship'.

That was very sad. I note that during the end credits, it said that she only acknowledged Stephen Ward's grooming behaviour towards the end of her life. She really didn't have anyone she could trust did she?

IMHO the Tom Mangold documentary on BBC 2, told the story far better and in 1 hour.

So sad but, sadly, I think nothing changes really.

Young women (and men) with poor prospects are still wide open to being used and abused by wealthy, powerful men, under the guise of being "shown a goodtime".

When Ward was on trial they were happy to ignore (and told the Jury to ignore) the same perjury they imprisoned Christine for!

I found this series thought provoking and interesting. In some ways womens' rights have come a very long way since the 60s, when attitudes towards promiscuous women were much more judgemental. Women really didn't have so many choices back then, university was out of reach for many working class people and women were paid a lot less than men. Many things have improved since then, although sadly there are still many vulnerable young people of both sexes who still get coerced into prostitution/unwanted sexual relationships.

Re the PP raising queries about CK's friendship with Mandy, in a radio interview CK gave several years ago she said that she had never really liked Mandy much. I think they just got thrown together by circumstances.

he may have been a man of questionable character but there appears to have been a true friendship.

Do 50 year old men really have 'true friendships' with teenaged girls?

A 'true friend' would have warned her about getting involved with Profumo. Ward did the opposite, and not out of 'friendship'.

Yes, you’re right of course.
Poor Christine really had nobody who didn’t use her.

Mandy seems to have grabbed life by the balls and Christine chewed up by just about everyone. Mandy came from a solid family I think and had a very different personality.

Christine never had a chance.
semi starved, raped by her stepfather (and friends?)
attempting her own DIY abortion with a pen aged 15
constantly called a slut and a whore by her mother who was happy to take money from her for bills and eventually a whole house purchase! Her 'real Father' shows up at the end only to sell 'his story'
Her only asset is her beauty and 'sexiness' which was traded by Ward (whom she saw as a True Friend / Older protector) if not directly for money then certainly for influence. During which time she was being stalked and beaten by 'Lucky'. Even MRD only saw her as a cash/fame source (selling stories).
And even years later to be hounded out of a dinner lady job for being 'who she was'? Whilst Profumo was lionised for his charity work.

She was a child victim of sexual and physical abuse who staggered on to be further victimised by everyone else - family, 'friends', lovers.
Times have changed. And in many ways, they have not.

This is just a quick comment as I am still thinking it over.

Having now seen from other reports documentaries contradictory reports of what CK has said, I am afraid I took that last posted comment about acknowledging being groomed etc., with a pinch of salt. ie not saying it wasn't what had happened to her, but it was the comment that suited the series intent. Like wise the very uptodate statements from Profumo's wife. Not saying that women at that time didnt make disparaging remarks about men, but not in those terms. More that men cant help be like that.

I thought it was weak that the series didn't show how or why it seemed that early on CK formed relationships with men from the Afro Carribean community. To just show Black men as violent and aggressive was just a bit cliched. But just part of the whole lack of clear narrative. She seemed to loathe her mother but then went out of her way to try and please her.

But for anyone who stepped out of the "proper place" in society you were always in peril of becoming a victim. And for women doubly so.

I wonder who else apart from Astor made hypocritical statements after Ward's death.

Also wasn't happy with the Profumo was somehow not so bad because he went off and volunteered and cutting between him scrubbing floors and CK in prison doing the same, was a falsehood. He was doing it as a public show of look at me paying for my sins. She was at the mercy of prison staff who could make her life a misery.

(Also, re the comment above about university. At the time something like less than 20% of the country went to university. You were either very rich and your family covered your costs, or you were (more often than not) a grammar school pupil who would get a grant from the local authority. (Disregarding busaries that individual colleges might have). Most people, particularly girls, left school at 15 / 16. If you were lucky you got an apprenticeship or were an articled clerk. Both of which meant years of underpaid work at the mercy of your employer.

It was partly or mainly the rigidity of this system of your life mapped out for you that led to the challenge, first by beatniks and then hippies to this all encompassing notion of know your place.

Poor Christine, her mother was just awful. Just awful.

Valerie Hobson was still married to her first husband (who was much older than her) when she met Profumo, she’d had several affairs after her first son was born with Down’s syndrome and was sent to live in a care home. It seems while married to Profumo she had a bit of an affair with the first husband too, telling a friend at one point she’d never really loved Jack.

She seems an interesting woman and not quite the meek woman she’s thought of. She studied at RADA before her acting career so was probably quite worldly and more modern than we think too.

Also wasn't happy with the Profumo was somehow not so bad because he went off and volunteered and cutting between him scrubbing floors and CK in prison doing the same, was a falsehood

Plus, he got the last work in his altercation with his wife, saying that while she was a glamorous actress having people fawning over her, he was enduring the horrors of war in Italy. As if that somehow made up for using teenaged girls like playthings.

As for Keeler, as the barrister said, however street wise she may have seemed, she was actually very naive. Which, along with her history of abuse, made her perfect prey for the likes of Stephen Ward. If you've never known a loving relationship in your life, then someone who seems to be kind and caring will be very attractive to you, even if he is in fact using you for his own benefit.

A tragic story all round. Only Mandy seems to have come out of it in any way better off.

Valerie Hobson was still married to her first husband (who was much older than her) when she met Profumo, she’d had several affairs after her first son was born with Down’s syndrome and was sent to live in a care home. It seems while married to Profumo she had a bit of an affair with the first husband too, telling a friend at one point she’d never really loved Jack.

I guess in upper class circles at the time, extra-marital affairs were considered quite normal and not a reason to end a marriage - provided these affairs were discreet. Hobson was probably more upset about the fact that her husband's dalliances were made so humilatingly public, rather than the fact that they happened in the first place.

Why did strangers send hate mail to Christine Keeler? I don't get that part of it.

Because in the eyes of most people, she was seen as a harlot, a femme fatale tempting good men from the right path with her evil femine wiles.

I don't think the series did a good job of getting across just how conservative society still was at this point. As has already been pointed out above, socially and culturally this was still the fag end of the 1950s - not 'Swinging London' at all.

If there was a similar situation now with a more modern take, she’d be trolled across Twitter, there’d be threads here etc. I’ll bet lots of people in the public eye get hate mail, lots of people troll others online too.

We can see her as what she was now, a victim of abuse and grooming but then she was a loose woman and the men were victims of her wiles I guess.

There was a programme from journalist Tom mangold on bbc2 at 10 last night which is fascinating. Basically Ward was set up (obviously). It’s called Keeler, Profumo, Ward & Me.

On a rather more pleasant note..... James Norton is lush, isn't he?

Poor, poor CK (even if she was often annoying). I felt that by the end I had no more idea about her and the other characters than at the start. Why did they not show how abused she was at home, they did plenty of other flashbacks. I agree with others, the conservative attitudes of the time didn't come across.

I agree that SW was set up but he wasn't the girls frined, he used them to gain influence. Very dodgy, a posh middle aged man surrounding himself with damaged, runaway girls. CK in one of the tapes Mangold played in his documentary said that sex with Porfumo was like rape, but a kind of smilinr ape and also that she didn't want to go out with him but SW was very keen for her to do so. She was coerced most likely, what young girl wants to have sex with some old dinosaur??

Yes he is lush
I must admit that series and reading the comments here have made me rethink my previous harsh comments about Christine and I was wrong about her. She was vulnerable , naive and had a very sad life, and certainly didn’t deserve the sadness of her life.

CoolCarrie that's great you know because it was part of the point of the series, to show it from C's side. I hope her son is pleased with it too. He says she always wanted to lose the prostitute tag.
I hope history judges her more kindly now. Kindness was sorely lacking in her life.

seymourplatt
@seymourplatt
·
19h
The drama doesn’t cover everything but does show why I want my mother to receive a pardon
#christinekeeler #thetrialofchristinekeeler

twitter.com/seymourplatt/status/1221569904777756674?s=20

I think John Hurt was more convincing as Ward , as James Norton was far too young, but he is an excellent actor, as well as being very lush.

John Hurt was exactly the right age at the time he played Ward.

Norton is too young.

John Hurt was indeed way better in the role of Stephen Ward. Extreme lushness and talent aside, James Norton is at least 10 or even 15 years too young to play Ward, who was in his late 40s at the time. He was only about 7 years older than Sophie Cookson, who is nearly 10 years older than Keeler was. In her case I don't think it mattered though, since she does quite resemble how Keeler looked in photos from the time.

I have to say I wasn't impressed by her performance however. She has the same vexed facial expression throughout. However, I'll give Cookson the benefit of the doubt and put that down to the way the character was written and directed rather than to her acting.

James Norton is 34 Ward was 48/49 at the time of his trial.