Dr_Mark_ODoherty Review of The Trial of Christine Keeler

The Trial of Christine Keeler (2019–2020)

Great drama about establishment revenge instigated in the UK during the 1960's

[10/10 · 12 February 2021]

I think this drama is a good example of establishment revenge - as well as a complex, comprehensive and transparent social study providing some interesting insights into the UK; and human society as a whole. Apparently the trial of Christine Keeler and her benefactor Stephen Ward was instigated after the downfall of the Conservative government of Harold Macmillan in 1963 - the trial having since been considered a miscarriage of justice and a charade of the establishment to protect itself; with Stephen Ward committing suicide due to the politically motivated legal harassment instigated by the UK political establishment. As serious and dramatic as the whole thing was, there was however also a comic side to 'The Trial of Christine Keeler' - with poor Christine being sentenced to nine months' imprisonment as punishment for having had sex with a UK Secretary of State for War - namely John Dennis Profumo - and a Soviet Spy, Yevgeny Ivanov - who allegedly informed Christine humorously that the Soviets had transported nuclear warheads to Berlin. So the whole affair not only caused some embarrassment to the UK government, but also to the Intelligence Community - including MI5, and possibly also MI6 (?). (Although this historic account deals rather conservatively with the involvement of British Intelligence in this particular high profile british scandal). Luckily though, those times are in the past; with the male UK political establishment being much more sexually secure and enlightened - because whether we like it or not, affairs are here to stay in today's world. And as indicated in this great British TV series, affairs not only end up in hurt or betrayal, but also in lessons of growth and discovery. So there is a certain ambiguity about human sexuality and extra marital activities; the protagonists in this British drama having been pioneers of the sexual revolution in post-Victorian England. Indeed, it's a good thing that Christine Keeler, Mandy Rice-Davies and the Russian spy Yevgeny Ivanov sparked the sexual revolution in the UK - so that the English working class were finally being permitted to behave just as sexually progressive as the British establishment :)