CHRISTINE KEELER DID NOT WANT TO BE SEEN AS A VICTIM
Sophie Cookson tells Marion McMullen about playing the woman at the heart of the scandal that rocked 1960s Britain
MODEL Christine Keeler was a 19-year-old who found herself at the centre of a political scandal in the 1960s.
She’d had a brief affair with John Profumo, the Secretary of State for War, which would have been a tabloid sensation in itself. But the fact she had also been linked to Captain Yevgeny Ivanov, a Soviet naval attache, made their relationship a potential security risk.
Now rising star Sophie Cookson, who has appeared in the Kingsman films, takes the title role in new BBC six-part drama The Trial Of Christine Keeler written by Amanda Coe and also starring Ben Miles and James Norton.
Here Sophie tells us how she prepared for the part:
What research did you do for the role?
I FEEL a huge responsibility to do Christine justice. She did not want to be portrayed as a victim, so that was important for me.
I’ve never played a real character before and there is a fine line between wanting to get it right and knowing when to stop.
In the end I had to ditch most of what I had researched and go with what Amanda had written.
How did the role come along?
IN the audition I came in and did a Christine Keeler impersonation – in such a way for it to be accessible to a modern audience.
There was a huge distance between Christine and the public. There were women chasing her down the street, beating her car with their handbags and shouting whore, and so it was important for the creative team to make sure our Christine was accessible.
Why is Christine’s story relevant now?
BECAUSE we are seeing lots of cases in court that have been viewed through a male lens.
Christine Keeler was not allowed a voice. There were so many men who were imposing their views and opinions onto her and they decided who she was.
Christine never had the opportunity to truly give her side of the story.
How did you develop her 1960s look?
Sophie Cookson, above, hopes her portrayal of Christine Keeler, inset, is ‘accessible’
ANDREA HARKIN (director) was very keen on me not being restricted and encouraged me to find Christine through costume, look and accent, and that was enormous fun.
She was an incredible looking woman and throughout the court cases she had Vidal Sassoon doing her hair and the Daily Mirror dressed her in amazing clothes – it was crazy.
She was a people pleaser and moulded herself into whatever world she was in.
PEOPLE have an opinion on her already and they see her as a sex object. She’s been reduced to someone who had sex with a famous man or many men.
I’m sure all the men in this story had slept with just as many people as she did.
In this we get to understand who that young girl was. She was only 17 when she moved to London and she soon became embroiled in this scandal, the consequences of which she carried for the rest of her life.
Even when writing her autobiographies, it was with the establishment looking down on her or men telling her what to say.
What was Christine’s world like?
WHAT has been interesting is really going back and knowing she had an incredibly tough childhood. She grew up in a converted railway carriage that had no electricity or running water. She attempted to selfabort her child when she was a teenager. She had the most tragic life. To forever be known as this prostitute (which she absolutely was not) was disgraceful. It makes me so angry!
How would you describe Christine in a word?
BRAVE. She faced so many obstacles, from class differences, the abuse she suffered, getting pregnant at 17, thwarted at every single hurdle. Yet she survived.
In my opinion she is one of the bravest people I have ever read about.
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The Trial of Christine Keeler, Sunday, BBC1, 9pm