Television series

The Trial of Christine Keeler

Name: The Trial of Christine Keeler
Genre: Drama
Released: 2019
Cast: Sophie Cookson, James Norton, Ellie Bamber, Ben Miles, Emilia Fox

Drama

A vivid retelling of the 1960s Profumo Affair that strips away the scandal's salacious veneer to centre Christine Keeler herself. The BBC drama examines how a young woman became collateral damage in a political earthquake, caught between powerful men determined to control her story. It's intimate and angry, unflinching about both the era's casual misogyny and the compromises institutions demand of the powerless.

TVMaze rating

3.4

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy courtroom and period dramas that look hard at how power treats a young woman who won't stay quiet, and you like stories where the public scandal is really about who gets believed.

Skip it if you want a fast, plot-driven thriller; this is a measured, talky series that spends its hour building the case around people's motives and the social pressures closing in on them.

What it asks of you: Six one-hour episodes, unhurried and dialogue-heavy, with the attention going to rooms full of men deciding what to do about one woman; it stays steady rather than shocking.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

The Crown2016

Explores similar terrain of scandal, duty, and the gap between public image and private truth in the British establishment. The same forensic attention to how power protects itself, told with immaculate production values.

But Spreads across five seasons and multiple timelines, which can feel diffuse when you want narrative momentum. Some storylines drag.

Bodyguard2018

Another BBC political thriller with genuine tension and moral complexity. It asks hard questions about complicity, loyalty, and what the system demands of those trying to survive within it.

But The finale divides viewers sharply. Some find it brilliant; others feel the ending undermines everything that came before.

A Very English Scandal2018

Hugh Grant at his most brilliant as a man destroyed by scandal. Like Christine Keeler, it examines how institutions weaponize shame and how the powerful escape accountability while the vulnerable burn.

But Centres a sympathetic protagonist accused of a crime. If you want Christine's perspective centred throughout, this may frustrate you.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Trial of Christine Keeler

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Cathy Come Home1966

Both are BBC works that use a woman's lived experience to indict institutional cruelty and complicity. Both argue that systems are the real scandal, not the people they destroy.

A BBC single drama from the same era as the Profumo Affair, about a young woman destroyed by systems that should protect her. It's raw, urgent, and revolutionised television by making viewers angry at institutions rather than at individuals. Still devastating.

But Shot in grainy black and white and feels genuinely dated in texture. Some find its earnestness heavy-handed, and its denouement is punishing rather than cathartic.

Philomena2013

A woman's decades-long fight against institutional betrayal and complicity. It shares Christine Keeler's DNA: righteous anger, excellent performances, and a fury at how systems silence inconvenient people.

But Moves slowly and deliberately. The pacing is meditative rather than propulsive, which can feel like a march if you want momentum.

The Wolf of Wall Street2013

A masterclass in how powerful men exploit systems and people around them while institutions look away. Martin Scorsese's camera is contemptuous and exhilarated, capturing the intoxication of impunity.

But Three and a half hours of spectacle that often feels like it's celebrating the excess it purports to critique. Some find it exhausting rather than enlightening.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy2011

1960s espionage machinery as a suffocating web of secrets, betrayals, and men performing versions of themselves. Gary Oldman embodies the isolation of someone who sees too much and trusts nothing.

But Deliberately opaque and glacial. If you want clarity and forward momentum, this will feel like drowning in cigarette smoke and ambiguity.

Scandal2012

American political thriller that understands how institutions protect power at any cost. It's faster and looser than Christine Keeler, but shares its fury at institutional hypocrisy and its interest in how women are used as fall guys.

But Becomes increasingly absurd as it progresses. Early seasons are taut; later ones veer toward soap opera territory.

The Knick2014

Steven Soderbergh's surgical drama examines institutional racism, corruption, and how systems exploit the vulnerable. It's formally inventive and morally uncompromising, with documentary-like intensity.

But Extremely graphic depictions of medical procedures and suffering. Not for the squeamish. Also cancelled after two seasons, which frustrates some viewers.

La Haine1995

Both diagnose how power systems make scapegoats of the powerless and how institutions justify cruelty through procedure and legality. Both are moral indictments dressed as entertainment.

A furious, formally brilliant French film about young men targeted by the state. Like Christine Keeler, it refuses to humanise the powerful or treat injustice as inevitable. The camera moves like an argument.

But Shot in black and white and in French with subtitles. The anger is relentless and unresolved; some find that politically pure but emotionally exhausting.

Des2020

Both are about the gap between public narrative and private truth; both examine how institutions fail the vulnerable while protecting the guilty; both refuse to simplify their subjects into heroes or villains.

David Tennant as Dennis Nilsen in a small, disturbing trilogy about a serial killer. It's intimate and psychological, refusing spectacle. Like Christine Keeler, it asks what we do with complexity and complicity, and who the system protects.

But Deeply unsettling and bleak. There is no redemption and no catharsis. If you need some emotional release, this offers none—it just leaves you angry and hollow.