The trial of Dr. John Bodkin Adams caused a sensation in Britain in the 1950s, with many people convinced that he was guilty of multiple murder. The doctor was not called for cross-examination and spoke only six words ("I am not guilty, my lord") during the proceedings. His acquittal was also sensational, and he was struck off the medical register soon afterwards. He never married, and did not die until 1983, at which time many newspapers hinted that he had actually been guilty; but Richard Gordon, the author of this TV play about him, wrote a magazine article, published a few days before it was broadcast, in which he stated that Adams was innocent, and merely a poor doctor.
A rare excursion into television script-writing for comic novelist Richard Gordon - and a very different kind of doctor story from "Doctor In The House" and the other medical comedies which had made him famous in the 1950s.
The prosecutor in the real-life case was Sir Reginald Manningham-Buller, who was also a prominent (and notoriously reactionary) member of the Conservative government of the day. The journalist Bernard Levin famously nicknamed him "Sir Reginald Bullying-Manner", as is mentioned in this TV play; the play does not depict him flatteringly.
Final film of Sylvia Coleridge.