One of the biggest scandals to shake British politics in recent history has been given a fresh retelling in a new drama on BBC One.
The Trial of Christine Keeler examines the Profumo affair through the experiences of the 19-year-old woman at the very centre of the 1963 sex scandal.
Ms Keeler's affairs with cabinet minister John Profumo and a Russian diplomat in the early 1960s led to a series of events that eventually helped to bring down Harold Macmillan's beleaguered government the following year.
The scandal rocked the British establishment at the time with its tales of politicians, prostitutes and Soviet spies and Ms Keeler struggled to shake-off its legacy in later years.
As the series continues on Sunday, here's the true story behind the Trial of Christine Keeler.
What happened in the Profumo Affair?
Christine Keeler was born in 1942 and was brought up in poverty before she left home at the age of 15. She worked as an office junior, showroom assistant and a barmaid before she was 16, eventually gaining work as a topless showgirl in a club in Greek Street, in the heart of Soho.
It was while working as a teenage showgirl that she met high-society osteopath Dr Stephen Ward, her patron and a man variously described as an artist and a procurer of women, as well as suspected of being a double-agent.
Dr Ward, who was living in a summer house on Viscount Astor's estate at Cliveden, Buckinghamshire, would eventually introduce Keeler to the then-Secretary of State for War John Profumo and Russian diplomat Yevgeny Ivanov.
The teenage Keeler went on to have relationships with both men at the same time, with the affairs coming right at the height of Cold War tensions between the West and the East.
But it was her relationship with another lover, John Edgecombe, which brought the whole affair to public attention.
Mr Edgecombe, a petty criminal and film extra, was involved in an incident outside Dr Ward's flat in Wimpole Mews, Marylebone in which he was alleged to have fired five shots at the bulding.
Christine Keeler, 21, arrives at Old Bailey in London, in this file photo dated April 1, 1963 |
While Edgecombe was later acquitted on charges of shooting at her with intent to murder her or cause grievous bodily harm, he was instead convicted of having a firearm with intent to endanger life.
But the arrest and subsequent trial merely served to heap attention on the young Ms Keeler and her relationship with Mr Profumo, and by March 1963 the whole country was teeming with rumours about Mr Profumo's presence at wild parties at Cliveden.
Speculation was merely heightened when Ms Keeler went missing as she was due to give evidence at Edgecombe's trial. Questions were asked in Westminster about the suspicious circumstances surrounded the "missing witness", and she was eventually tracked down to Madrid.
Mr Profumo was forced to make a statement to the Commons while uproar over the "missing witness" was at its height. In his statement, the politician fiercely denied any impropriety whatever in his relationship with Ms Keeler, and threatened to sue anybody who suggested otherwise.
But while the House of Commons was becoming increasingly aware of rumours connecting Mr Profumo to Ms Keeler and the Edgecombe shooting, at first Mr Profumo's assertion that his friendship with Ms Keeler was merely platonic was accepted by the Cabinet.
However, MPs and newspapers remained sceptical and suggestions were rife that Ms Keeler had been sent away to avoid cross-examination at trial. Is soon became clear to the Prime Minister that Mr Profumo's position became untenable and in June 1963 Mr Profumo was forced to admit that he had lied to the house and he resigned in the wake of the scandal.
Dr Ward meanwhile was arrested and accused of living off immoral earnings, but he committed suicide after being found guilty of some of the charges