"The Witness for the Prosecution" is a short story and play by British author Agatha Christie. The story was initially published as "Traitor's Hands" in Flynn's, a weekly pulp magazine, in the edition of 31 January 1925.[1]
In 1933, the story was published for the first time as "The Witness for the Prosecution" in the collection The Hound of Death that appeared only in the United Kingdom. In 1948, it was finally published in the United States under that title in the collection The Witness for the Prosecution and Other Stories. The story has been adapted for stage, film and television.
Plot
Leonard Vole is arrested for the murder of Emily French, a wealthy older woman. Unaware that he was a married man, Miss French made him her principal heir, casting suspicion on Leonard. When his wife, Romaine, agrees to testify, she does so not in Leonard's defence but as a witness for the prosecution. Romaine's decision is part of a complicated plan to free her husband. She first gives the prosecution its strongest evidence, then fabricates new evidence that discredits her testimony, believing, correctly as it turns out, that her impeachment as an unfaithful wife would improve Leonard's chances of acquittal far more than her testimony for the defence. It is then revealed that Leonard Vole in fact killed Emily French.
Alterations
The original short story ended abruptly with the major twist—Romaine's revelation that Leonard Vole was in fact guilty. Over time, Christie grew dissatisfied with this abrupt and dystopian ending (one of the few Christie endings in which a murderer escapes punishment), which would have had to be sanitised in any event for stage and film versions where such a brutal crime going unpunished would have been unthinkable at the time.
In her subsequent rewriting of the story as a play she added a young mistress for Leonard, who does not appear until the end of the play. The mistress and Leonard are about to leave Romaine (called "Christine" in all film and television versions, and most stage productions after the original Broadway production, until the 2016 television version) to be arrested for perjury, when Romaine grabs a knife,[2] and stabs and kills Leonard. She will be defended by the same attorney she tricked into getting Leonard acquitted in the first place. This remained the standard production format until Sarah Phelps' 2016 television version, which restored the original ending but changed the fates of other characters.
Characters (play)
Leonard Vole, the accused
Emily French, the victim
Janet Mackenzie, Emily French's maid
Romaine (subsequently renamed as Christine) Heilger/Vole, "wife" of the accused
Mr Mayhew / Mayherne, the solicitor of the accused
Sir Wilfrid Robarts, QC, senior counsel of the accused
Mr Myers, QC, the Crown prosecutor
Mr Justice Wainwright, the judge
Inspector Hearne, the arresting officer
Greta, Sir Wilfrid's typist
Carter, Sir Wilfrid's clerk
Publishing history
1925: Flynn's Weekly, 31 January – as Traitor's Hands
2024 Pieter Toerien presents Agatha Christie’s Witness for the Prosecution starring Graham Hopkins, Sharon Spiegel Wagner, Mike Huff, Peter Terry, Craig Jackson, Brett Kruger, Dianne Simpson, Matthew Lotter, Micah Stojakovic and Jordan Soares (South Africa)
In August 2016, Variety reported that Ben Affleck was in talks to direct and star in a remake of Witness for the Prosecution. Christopher Keyser was to write the script, and Affleck would produce, with Matt Damon, Jennifer Todd and the Agatha Christie estate. The project was never realized.[4]
The 2016 BBC TV mini series [5] was also issued as a standalone film.
Television
BBC Television produced Witness for the Prosecution in 1949, with Dale Rogers as Leonard Vole, Mary Kerridge as Romaine Vole and Derek Elphinstone as Sir Wilfrid Robarts Q.C. This version was directed by John Glyn-Jones and adapted by Sidney Budd.[6]
Witness for the Prosecution was next adapted for NBC, also in 1949, with Nicholas Saunders as Leonard Vole. This version aired as part of The Chevrolet Tele-Theatre, and was directed by Gordon Duff.[7]
The 7 November 1950 episode of the CBS anthology series Danger was an adaptation of this story. [8]