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.

Not sure if I can suffer 4 more hours of hearing James Norton calling Christine ''little baby''!

It was the continuity guy who said last part on Sunday, but it does say 6 parts on Radio Times website

I'm hooked totally.

So it will probably be Sunday and Monday of next week ,and the same the week after , 3 or 4 would be enough

Continuity guy got it wrong:

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000ct7b/broadcasts/upcoming

I'm not keen on the 'Little Baby' stuff either, IcedPurple, but presumably that's what Stephen W called Christine. I think the script writers could have been more economical with it.

I do remember that part of Christine Keller's appeal supposedly was her child like quality - 'a child woman' I think she was known as.

Other than that, I really enjoyed tonight's episode and it seems well cast. Quite exciting in parts too and evocative of a particular era that I'll never forget - it was so much talked about at school (I was thirteen), and it was not the only scandal around that time.

I much preferred tonight's episode. Love Christine's hair too. Tempted to get mine shorter now.

Sue Lawley interviewing John Hurt and Christine Keeler when the 1989 film Scandal was released. John Hurt played Stephen Ward in the film.

This is the same interview that is linked on the previous page.

I'm saving up the episodes to binge watch when all six are available.

Meanwhile, the story resonates for me especially at the moment because, as PP have asked, John Profumo's serious crime was to lie to parliament, because he denied in Parliament, that he was having an affair with CK.

This is such a contrast with our current political climate, when lying appears to be accepted as 'what politicians do'.

They have overdone the "little baby" stuff. I guess they're trying to be authentic to how Stephen and Christine's relationship was, but given that the rest of it consists of imagined conversations, I think they could have dialled it back. But still, once the trial gets underway they'll be seeing less of each other. Perhaps it will become less irritating then!

I couldn't understand why nobody tried to stop Christine and Mandy from talking to the press, and why Stephen wasn't more annoyed with them about it. Surely he could see that he would at the very least lose clients if all the details of their personal lives were in the papers?

I agree with comments above about James Norton's miscasting in this. He's way too young and makes the "little baby" comment sound ridiculous. Why on earth would you cast a 35 year old as someone in their late 40s?

Bath and Cheltenham standing in for London is another irritation.

At the time I couldnt understand how John Profumo could do the dirty on his gorgeous wife. Valerie Hobson knocked spots off Christine Keller.

"Valerie Hobson knocked spots off Christine Keller"

What a naive and terribly distasteful thing to say.

It was a MI5 cover up - Ward was working for them and got shafted because someone had to pay for the mess of Profumo and the downfall of that current government.

Spoiler alert: women not ranked only in order of their appearance.

I agree with comments above about James Norton's miscasting in this. He's way too young and makes the "little baby" comment sound ridiculous. Why on earth would you cast a 35 year old as someone in their late 40s?

Yes, it's not as though there aren't a ton of middle aged actors knocking about! Though it is interesting in the sense that usually it's the woman who is cast as a character much older than her age, yet here it's the reverse - Sophie Cookson is 10 years older than Keeler at the time, and Norton is 15 years younger than Stephen Ward. There's only about 7 years between them irl. She looks the part, but Norton does not.

At the time I couldnt understand how John Profumo could do the dirty on his gorgeous wife. Valerie Hobson knocked spots off Christine Keller.

As others have said... ugh. They were both beautiful and fascinating women in their own right.

And I'm not sure why you were so shocked. Men of Profumo's age and social class did - and probably still do - feel entitled to as many women as they like. It wouldn't occur to them that they owed fidelity to their wives. And as divorce was considered a disgrace in those days, especially for an upper-class woman, they knew their wives had no option but to avert their eyes. The only real crime was being caught. That was Profumo's downfall.

I don't have a problem believing James Norton in the role at all.

That said, it is odd that they have not cast someone of the right age.

I like Norton too but John Hurt was outstanding imho.

Mind you, Hurt was pretty outstanding in everything.

Trivia fact for Housewife2010

Its not a short hair cut. It was a a style some women with long hair used.

Pull the hair up into a pony tail. Then take the ends and make them hang like a bob. Probably held in place with loads of hair spray. I can remember trying to do it but it never worked.

Until Mary Quant (a few years later) not many women had short hair. Either long and "bouffant" or up in a chignon(?) as MRD.

Thanks. Mine is halfway down my back though so it would be shorter for me. It looks like a long bob.

Struggling with the first ep.

The flashbacks are really annoying to me!

I much preferred the second episode. I think there are too many flashbacks.