Produced by Palace Pictures at the height of their success in the 1980s and 1990s and a precursor to the recent BBC series THE TRIAL OF CHRISTINE KEELER, Michael Caton-Jones’ 1989 film SCANDAL was one of the most controversial films of its’ time, making the Government as nervous as it did when the real-life events brought it down back in 1963.
Country girl Christine Keeler (Joanne Whalley) meets well-connected society doctor Stephen Ward (John Hurt) at a club at the outset of Swinging London in the 1960s, who takes her under his wing and begins to promote her as a trophy in his network of connections. Enter Mandy Rice-Davies (Bridget Fonda, THE ASSASSIN, SINGLES) who befriends Christine – and their friendship grows.
Christine is invited by Ward’s friend Lord Astor (Leslie Phillips) to a country house where he rents a cottage – and it is there during a party that he meets the then Prime Minister, John Profumo (Ian McKellen, LORD OF THE RINGS), where they embark on an affair.
It is a series of connections and events that would set in motion one of the biggest scandals of the twentieth century….
Very frank and explicit in its’ depiction of the times, SCANDAL remains a competent drama and well worth another look if you get a chance.