Why I Feared a Writ from Lady Falkender

The Daily Telegraph reports today that Marcia Falkender is considering taking the BBC to court over their portrayal of her in the BBC4 drama The Lavender List. I would be most surprised if she carried through her threat, for the drama was based upon allegations made in two books I published in 2002 by Harold Wilson's former advisers Joe Haines - Glimmers of Twlight - and Bernard Donoughue - Heat of the Kitchen. Indeed, what they said in their books was far worse than anything in the BBC4 programme. I remember at the time being quite nervous about some of what they had written and we had it all libel-read, but even so I half expected to get some sort of threat from Lady F. But it never materialised. Bearing in mind the number of people who actually saw The Lavender List I'd have thought she'd have kept quiet. In any case, I thought it portrayed her rather sympathetically. I cannot imagine she will go to court. I saw her in the House of Lords the other day and she looked very ill indeed.