UK News
First look image from The Witness for the Prosecution
The first image from The Witness for the Prosecution has been revealed! The image shows Kim Cattrall who stars as victim Emily French, a staggeringly wealthy and glamorous widow. Based on Agatha Christie’s short story of the same title, The Witness for the Prosecution is a major new adaptation written by Sarah Phelps for BBC One. The two-part drama is directed by the acclaimed film and television director Julian Jarrold (Kinky Boots, Becoming Jane) and produced by Colin Wratten (The Musketeers, One of Us).
The all-star cast includes Toby Jones (Detectorists, Marvellous, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy), Andrea Riseborough (Bloodline, Birdman, Oblivion), Kim Cattrall (Sensitive Skin, Sex and the City), David Haig (The Thick Of It, Mo, My Boy Jack), Billy Howle (The Sense of an Ending, The Seagull, Cider with Rosie), and Monica Dolan (Appropriate Adult, Eye In the Sky, The Casual Vacancy).
The story is set in 1920s London. A murder, brutal and bloodthirsty, has stained the plush carpets of a handsome London townhouse. The victim is the glamorous and rich Emily French (Kim Cattrall). All the evidence points to Leonard Vole (Billy Howle), a young chancer to whom the heiress left her vast fortune and who ruthlessly took her life. At least, this is the story that Emily’s dedicated housekeeper Janet McIntyre (Monica Dolan) stands by in court. Leonard however, is adamant that his partner, the enigmatic chorus girl Romaine (Andrea Riseborough), can prove his innocence. Tasked with representing Leonard is his solicitor John Mayhew (Toby Jones) and King’s Counsel, Sir Charles Carter KC (David Haig).
Screenwriter Sarah Phelps says “When I read the short story, it felt like the most perfect Film Noir for 1920s London and like the famous Noir of post WWII America, there is an incredible focus on the context of the times and how that might lead someone to commit a terrible murder. Dark, strange, unsettling and thrilling, you feel the rug of your certainties twitched from under your feet. I couldn’t wait to get going on it.”
