Sophie Cookson & Ben Miles on KI’s The Trial of Christine Keeler

Sophie Cookson and Ben Miles were in Cannes yesterday to promote The Trial of Christine Keeler, a six-part series on offer from Keshet International (KI) about the infamous “Profumo affair.”

In 1961, British politician John Profumo had an affair with 19-year-old Christine Keeler. The infamous sex scandal helped topple PM Harold Macmillan’s Conservative government. Screenwriter Amanda Coe dug into archives and memoirs to pen The Trial of Christine Keeler, which is set to air on BBC One and is being rolled out internationally by Keshet International. The series is produced by Ecosse Films and Great Meadow.

“Amanda had written the most brilliant script,” says Cookson of one of the many factors that appealed to her about the show, in which she portrays Keeler. “It’s a story that has previously been told through a very male gaze. [This project] has a female writer, a female producer and is told through [Keeler’s] point of view. That’s very important and definitely a trend we’re seeing at the moment. People have a real desire to see the story behind what they think they know. It goes into the human stories as opposed to the iconic headlines and photographs.”

Miles stars as Profumo, a conservative government minister from an upper-class English family who was on a “meteoric rise,” the actor says. “He was tipped to be the next prime minister of the country.” His relationship with Keeler, “through the manipulation of the media, was very instrumental in the downfall of the government he was tipped to lead, and marked the beginning of what is known as the Swinging ’60s in London. The affair happened at a moment when liberalism met conservatism head to head, within the glare of the media. It’s a fascinating time historically and socially.”

Miles adds, “When you read the amazing script that Amanda Coe has created, you realize there is so much more [to this story] than just these two people.”

Cookson adds, “That’s what makes it such an interesting show. There’s a clash of cultures, races, gender, class. It covers so much.”

“Each character is written with such empathy and understanding,” Miles notes. “There are no two-dimensional characters in this show. Even the people you would perceive as the villains of the piece, for example, the character I play, you begin to understand why he did what he did, what the cost was: to his marriage, his reputation, his career.”

Miles adds that it was an “exciting piece to come to, knowing there’s a chance to tell the story through the right lens, at last, i.e. the point of these girls who just wanted to get on in life and have freedom and have a voice and liberty.”

To prepare for the role, Miles says he did additional research, including reading David Profumo’s Bringing the House Down: A Family Memoir. Cookson read Keeler’s memoirs but largely relied on Coe’s scripts. “Amanda has studied this so well. There was so much material that Amanda harvested, I got to point where I said I have to leave all of the other research and trust in what Amanda has done.”