An English bon-vivant osteopath is enchanted with a young exotic dancer and invites her to live with him. He serves as friend and mentor, and through his contacts and parties she and her friend meet and date members of the Conservative Party. Eventually a scandal occurs when her affair with the Minister of War goes public, threatening their lifestyles and their freedom. Based on the real Profumo scandal of 1963.

This film narrowly escaped an X rating in the U.S. because of some questionable footage during the Cliveden House orgy sequence. Under closer scrutiny it was determined that a couple of extras were engaged in actual copulation on a piano in one of the background scenes. Even though they were not captured in sharp focus, the scene had to be trimmed for all general releases to avoid the restrictive rating, which BBFC censor James Ferman accomplished by defusing the light from a table-lamp in the foreground. The inquisitive-minded will find this sequence at approximately 49 minutes and 5 seconds into the movie.

John Profumo:
I have nothing to hide.


Stephen Ward:
Come off it John, we all have something to hide, what a boring life it would be if we didn't.

Factual errors: A title card says, "One Year Later, 1962," indicating Profumo addressed Parliament re Keeler that year. But, Profumo's address was actually in March 1963.

by Dusty Springfield with Pet Shop Boys