Reimagining The Witness for the Prosecution
As its seasonal offering, BBC TV has just done a two-part adaptation of The Witness for the Prosecution. Actually, it was more a reimagining of what began as a short story by Agatha Christie in 1924, before it was published in a collection of tales in 1933 as The Hound of Death and in 1948 as The Witness for the Prosecution and Other Stories.
It was this last version that I read as a schoolboy in Patna - and the ending left me pretty shocked.
Leonard Vole is a young man accused of murdering an older woman, Miss Emily French, whom he had befriended. She had changed her will to make him her sole beneficiary. Her maid, Janet McIntyre, identifies Vole as the killer. John Mayhew is the solicitor who takes on Vole's defence but his case is demolished when Vole's Austrian-born wife, Romain Vole (née Heilger), turns chief prosecution witness and confirms her husband is guilty. But there is a twist in the courtroom drama.
Dissatisfied with the ending, Christie changed it when she adapted Witness into a play in 1953. Since then, as one of Christie's best-loved classics, it has been staged all over the world. There was a 1957 film version, starring Marlene Dietrich as Vole's wife and Charles Laughton as the barrister, Sir Wilfrid Robarts, appointed by Mayhew. These roles were played by Diana Rigg and Ralph Richardson in the 1982 film version.
In the latest BBC production, Miss French (played by Kim Cattrall) is a rich widow who picks up Leonard Vole (Billy Howle) for satisfying sex (glimpsed by the disapproving maid through a parted curtain). The year is 1923. We learn that Vole and Romaine (Andrea Riseborough) met in 1918 on the battlefield as World War I was ending. Miss French's maid, Janet McIntyre (Monica Dolan), declares she "loves" her mistress. Part of the story revolves around solicitor John Mayhew (Toby Jones) who is trapped in a loveless marriage - his unresponsive wife cannot forgive him that he has returned from the war (admittedly with lungs damaged by gas) while their 17-year-old son has not.
The screenplay is written by Sarah Phelps, who appears to have made many viewers unhappy by deviating radically from Christie's plot but her reimagining of what might have been in the author's mind has been warmly applauded by critics. I appreciated the BBC version much more on a second viewing but for background I also returned to Christie's original short story and the 1982 film.
What is remarkable is that The Witness for the Prosecution , dashed off by Christie in 1924, still has resonance as 2017 opens. A Bengali version with one of our leading ladies from yesteryear as the murder victim would work well, I think.
Present perfect
She has just been taken on as brand ambassador by Vitabiotics, the vitamins company in the UK owned by Kartar Lalvani and his sons, Ajit and Tej.
"Nicole will also be part of the Indian campaign," says Tej.
He tells me that Vitabiotics, with global sales of $350 million, spends £30 million a year on advertising in newspapers, television, outdoor billboards, on the backs of 1,000 buses in London and "in every one of the 5,000 carriages on the London Underground".
While the male model David Gandy and England fast bowler James Anderson promote Wellman, 38-year-old Nicole, former girlfriend of racing driver Lewis Hamilton, is considered perfect for Perfectil, the product said to enhance hair, skin and nails.
"Nicole has a very international look - she can pass off as Asian," adds Tej, who was introduced to Nicole through a friend and persuaded her to become his brand ambassador.
Nicole has been to India before. She and Jennifer Lopez were guests at Sanjay Hinduja's wedding in Udaipur in February 2015.
Slanted view
When reporting cricket matches involving Australia and third countries, the BBC's sports website appears to look at matches almost invariably from the Australian point of view.
For example, while The Telegraph in India reported, "Opener goes past 1,000 runs in the year: Azhar's century on another rain-hit day", the BBC's take was a carping, "Australia v Pakistan: Azhar Ali's 139 frustrates hosts in rain-hit second Test".
Bengali insult
The BBC has done a round-up of "insults" from around the world. For example, "aubergine shiner" is Persian abuse to denote a useless person.
The world would have been baffled by the Bengali offering: " Shala - it means brother-in law."
Tittle tattle
Rupert Murdoch's Chinese ex-wife, Wendi Deng, has been photographed cavorting with her new Hungarian lover, 6-foot-2-inch tall New York model Bertold Zahoran, in the Daily Mail . He is said to be 64 years younger than 85-year-old Murdoch who has found bliss with Jerry Hall, 60.
