Ordeal by Innocence: BBC drama to be reshot with Christian Cooke in Ed Westwick role

A BBC drama kept off of TV screens after sexual assault allegations against its star will be re-filmed with a different actor.

Ordeal by Innocence, based on Agatha Christie’s 1958 novel of the same name, was filmed last year with former Gossip Girl star Ed Westwick and originally set to air over Christmas.

Co-producers Mammoth Screen and Agatha Christie Limited have confirmed that Westwick’s scenes will be re-shot with Cemetery Junction actor Christian Cooke in the role of Mickey Argyll, Deadline reports.

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The BBC opted to pull the three-part murder mystery from the festive line-up after Westwick was accused of rape by two women and sexual assault by a third. The 30-year-old actor strenuously denies any wrongdoing.

At the time, the corporation stressed it was “not making any judgement” on the allegations, but that broadcast of the lavish period drama could not go ahead “until these matters are resolved”.

No release date has yet been given for the re-edited version of the Christie whodunnit, which co-stars Bill Nighy and Matthew Goode.

A similar fate befell director Ridley Scott’s All The Money In The World, a biographical drama about the kidnapping of the grandson of US tycoon John Paul Getty, originally played by Kevin Spacey.

Just weeks before the film’s December premiere, an outpouring of sexual misconduct allegations against Spacey left producers in an unenviable position.

The film was eventually salvaged when Christopher Plummer was drafted in to replace Spacey as Getty, hastily reshooting the character’s scenes with the help of co-stars Michelle Williams and Mark Wahlberg.