Page 36 Daily Mail, Thursday, August 8, 2019Blue Peter
Huq’s slice
of wisdom
Curse of Profumo:
BBC bosses’ jitters
over all-star drama
O NEVER one to blow his own
trumpet, former Monty Python
star Sir Michael Palin says he is
often overpraised. ‘People do
round up my career sometimes,
and I hear them say: “We’re very
lucky to have with us Michael
Palin — actor, director, writer.”
I’ve never directed anything.’B
oasting an all-
star cast, the BBC’s
new drama the
trial of Christine
Keeler, a six-part
series about the Profumo
scandal which led to the(^) resignation of a Conservative
Cabinet minister, has been
billed as the highlight of the
autumn season.
But i can dislose this long-awaited
treat — starring Emilia Fox, James
norton and sophie Cookson — has
still not been given a transmission
date, such are BBC sensitivities
about impartiality rules.
Broadcasting a drama spiced with
extra-marital sex and tory Party
politics at a time when the country
could be engulfed by a general
Election has apparently given BBC
bigwigs the collywobbles. ‘We were
told it would go out in the autumn,’
says a cast member, ‘but apparently
the BBC is reluctant to schedule it
for september or october in case
an election is called’.
although the events described
happened more than 50 years ago,
the Conservative government
became embroiled in one of the
worst scandals of the century.
John Profumo was secretary of
state for War when, staying with
Viscount astor at Cliveden, he
spied 19-year-old good-time girl
Christine Keeler emerge naked
from the swimming-pool.
Married Profumo elicited her
telephone number from society
osteopath stephen Ward, who had
invited her to Cliveden where he
rented a cottage.
Within weeks, Profumo and Keeler
were enjoying an intense affair —
despite the fact that Keeler was
also sleeping with a soviet naval
attache. Profumo initially denied
‘any impropriety’, but resigned after
admitting he lied to the Commons.
a BBC spokesman tells me; ‘the
series hasn’t been delivered to the
BBC yet and no transmission dates
have been decided.’
O PRINCe CHaRleS is known
for his green fingers — and
now Camilla is apparently
seeking a gardener with an ad
on the royal website. No salary
or exact location is given other
than a ‘small private estate’ in
Wiltshire. The Duchess
retained Ray Mill, a Grade II-
listed house in the county,
after her marriage to Charles.
‘This exciting position will
form an integral part of the
team, ensuring the garden is
maintained to the highest
standards,’ says the advert.
BLUE PETER’S longest-serv-
ing female presenter
Konnie Huq admits
that she and the
Duchess of Sussex,
both of whom are
making their first foray
into children’s fiction,
have an unfair advantage
in the literary market.
‘The world and their dog
seems to have brought out a
children’s book,’ the 44-year-old
tells me at the launch of her
tome, Cookie And The Most
Annoying Boy In The World, at
Hatchards in Piccadilly.
Huq (right), who presented
Blue Peter from 1997 to 2008,
adds: ‘I can’t deny that it helps to
be a known entity, but I believe a
story has to be good to do well.
‘If it’s rubbish it won’t matter
who you are and whether you’re
on TV or you’re royalty. That’s the
thing about life in general, which
is quite unfair: people will often
go to Pizza Express rather than
Joe Bloggs’s Pizza but then slowly,
if Joe Bloggs’s Pizza is good, word
gets around.’
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