We no longer consider it appropriate to watch gladiators kill each other for public entertainment, yet the dramatisation of real people’s lives can be equally barbaric. Especially when their families are still living with the fallout of other people’s versions of a truth they actually lived.
As Julia Stonehouse points out in her opinion piece (ITV’s Stonehouse drama is a work of fiction, not fact. I should know – I’m his daughter, 5 January), John Preston’s disclaimer that his drama Stonehouse was “based on a true story” but includes imagined characters and scenes does nothing to help viewers distinguish fact from fiction. I should know because I came away temporarily believing some of the drama – the big house, fast cars and the children still living at home (to name but a few details) – although I had good reason to know better.
I was privileged to work for Barbara Stonehouse (now Flexney-Briscoe) in the mid-1980s, and to see how the family was emotionally supportive of John Stonehouse after his release from prison. I knew they believed wholeheartedly in his breakdown from harmful prescription drugs, and if the programme got one thing right it was that Barbara created an environment of compassion and tolerance.
If I can correct any of the glaring errors of this drama, then I want to defend the image of Barbara. Not the passive housewife beautifully acted by Keeley Hawes, but a highly intelligent, no nonsense, hardworking businesswoman throughout her life – and an extremely caring and fair-minded individual.
I’m a writer myself, and I understand the call to fictionalise great stories, but surely it is time we stopped treating living people’s lives in such cavalier fashion. Stories have power – and we remember what we saw and heard. In years to come, a highlyfictionalised drama has become our memory of “the facts”.
Henrietta Bond
Todmorden, West Yorkshire
