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The Independent (16/Mar/2013) - How dare the BBC call Hitchcock a lascivious lech

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How dare the BBC call Hitchcock a lascivious lech

Author of new book on director says he was unfairly maligned by makers of The Girl

The author of a new book about Hitchcock's thriller The Birds has urged the BBC to apologise to the director's family for portraying him as a "lascivious lecher" in a major drama.

Tony Lee Moral, pictured right, is calling for the corporation to withdraw the DVD of the The Girl - a co-production with HBO - saying it dishonestly damages Sir Alfred Hitchcock's reputation.

Mr Moral, whose book The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds is released later this month, said: "People will never get tired of Hitchcock's films; unfortunately I think The Girl has done an awful lot of damage in the view of the lay person. The BBC should apologise to the Hitchcock family and for misleading the general audience."

He rejected the BBC film's suggestion that Hitchcock became obsessed with his leading lady Tippi Hedren and subjected her to physical and mental harassment during the filming of his 1963 masterpiece. The team behind The Girl remains adamant it is an accurate portrayal of the relationship between director and star.

Mr Moral's book queries The Girl's portrayal of two of the key set-piece scenes used in the drama screened on BBC 2 on Boxing Day, which show Hitchcock, played by Toby Jones, at his most manipulative: the filming of a bird smashing a phone booth with leading actress Tippi Hedren inside, and her character being attacked by multiple birds in the attic.

Both suggest he put his leading lady in physical danger, possibly to punish her for rejecting his advances, and that he revelled in her discomfort.

"The drama suggested he took pleasure in the phone-box scene and Hedren hasn't contradicted that," Mr Moral said. "Ordinary members of the public think he would harm her with broken glass, which is absurd." He insisted it was an accident that the glass was smashed.

Regarding the attic attack, which took five days to film with birds repeatedly flying at Hedren, "he was very nervous, he didn't want to film it... He's doing it because he needs those 67 bits of film for the montage," Mr Moral said.

Leanne Klein, the executive producer of The Girl, defended the drama. She said it was "based on extensive research, including interviews with a range of sources close to Alfred Hitchcock".

She added that the writer Gwyneth Hughes "interviewed surviving members of Hitchcock's cast and crew, some of whom were speaking for the first time, and their insights helped to inform scenes and characterisation".

This included the assistant director Jim Brown, who died before the drama was screened, although his widow has since said Brown would not have endorsed the film.

Mr Moral interviewed over a dozen members of the film's cast and crew for the book. While conceding that Hitchock had a "controlling, possessive side", he said: "Everyone I've spoken to who worked with him said he was nothing but a consummate professional."

The Hitchcock estate has declined to comment. Mr Moral said: "It's not only an offence to him but to the Hitchcock family as well. I think the DVD should be withdrawn." Previously, the BBC withdrew a drama about the stars of the sitcom Steptoe and Son after the family complained.

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