Profumo affair drama series ‘The Trial of Christine Keeler’ coming to BBC One

The BBC has ordered a new drama taking a fresh look at one of the most infamous British true life stories.

Award-winning novelist and screenwriter Amanda Coe (Apple Tree Yard) has written the six-part BBC One series, which explores the chain of events in the 1960s which came to be known as the Profumo affair.

The Trial of Christine Keeler will take viewers behind the headlines to tell a human story about the sexual and cultural politics of one of the most revealing and iconic stories of modern times. At the centre of the storm was 19-year-old Christine Keeler – a young woman whom the powerful, male-dominated establishment sought to silence and exploit, but who refused to play by their rules.

Room at the Top writer Amanda Coe commented: “I’m excited to have the opportunity to bring a fresh lens to a story that has become a powerful fable of our national identity. The astonishing story of Christine Keeler and the so-called Profumo affair is the Salem Witch Trial meets OJ Simpson – a perfect storm of gender, class, race and power that resonates into the world we’re living in today.”

Executive producer Kate Triggs added: “In 1963 Britain changed irrevocably. Old certainties about class, race and sex exploded. And 19-year-old Christine Keeler was the flame that lit the touchpaper. This is a story about change: a story for our times. I am thrilled to be working with Amanda Coe again and to see her brilliance shine through this original commission.”

The Trial of Christine Keeler will begin filming in the UK in 2018.