Few British actors of recent years have been held in as much affection as Sir John Hurt. Something about his innocence, open-heartedness and his beautiful speaking voice made him instantly attractive. To mark the passing one of British cinema’s most beloved actors we look back at one of the best performances of Hurt’s career in this special screening of Scandal – the tale of the infamous Cold War controversy that toppled Britain's Conservative government in the early 1960s.

Based on the chain of events that led to the infamous 'Profumo affair', John Hurt stars as high-class osteopath Stephen Ward, who grooms his teen showgirl protégé Christine Keeler (Joanne Whalley) and her friend Mandy Rice-Davies (Bridget Fonda) to party with his swinging high-society friends. But storm clouds gather when Christine becomes simultaneously entangled with Russian diplomat and Soviet spy Eugene Ivanov (Jeroen Krabbe) and the British Minister of Defence, John Profumo (Sir Ian McKellen). And when the media learn of her sexual escapades, the Government comes under fire and begins seeking a scapegoat to distract the public from the dangerous political implications that the affairs represent.

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