London: The BBC will re-shoot a three-part Agatha Christie thriller, Ordeal by Innocence, after replacing one of its main stars, who has been accused of rape by two actresses, at an extra cost of £1 million.
Ed Westwick, who has "strenuously denied" the charges by Kristina Cohen and Aurélie Wynn, will be replaced by fellow British actor Christian Cooke.
The BBC seems to be following industry rules being evolved by Hollywood that when an actor is considered tainted, the production will not be scrapped but the film will be re-shot with a replacement star.
To kill off the whole project would have cost even more money apart from being unfair to the rest of the cast.
In November, the BBC had pulled the drama from its Christmas schedule and said that although it was "not making any judgement until these matters are resolved", the allegations against Westwick were serious.
In a statement on Friday, the two companies involved in the production said: "The co-producers of Ordeal by Innocence, Mammoth Screen and Agatha Christie Limited, announced that they are to re-shoot sections of the BBC1 drama later this month."
They added: "British actor Christian Cooke has been cast in the role of Mickey Argyll... and will join other cast members, including Bill Nighy, Anna Chancellor, Matthew Goode, Eleanor Tomlinson, Anthony Boyle, Luke Treadaway, Morven Christie, Crystal Clarke, Ella Purnell and Alice Eve, on location in Scotland."
The story is about how Jacko Argyle dies in prison after being wrongly convicted of killing his adoptive mother. When the man who could have supported Jacko's alibi suddenly turns up two years later, the family grapples with the sudden knowledge that one of them is the real murderer.
In Hollywood, Kevin Spacey, accused of assaulting a 14-year-old boy in 1986, has suffered a fate similar to Westwick's. Spacey, 58, has been replaced with Christopher Plummer, 88, in the role of billionaire J. Paul Getty in Ridley Scott's All the Money in the World, which has just gone on general release.
Netflix too has removed Spacey from House of Cards rather than cancel the very popular series.
"All my scenes were redone.... Nothing of Kevin really remains, (except) I think there was one shot from his back that had to be used for a seamless move by the camera," Plummer told BBC Radio 4's Front Row programme.
Discussing Spacey's possible return to acting, Scott has also discussed a comeback by Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, who has been buffeted by sexual harassment charges.
"I'm sure Harvey (Weinstein) will already have a go within a year," Scott said.
