THE son of moral crusader Mary Whitehouse today said he will wait to see a new BBC programme about his mother before passing judgment.

Richard Whitehouse, who lives in Manningtree, will be sitting in front of his television with a vested interest next week when the drama, documenting Mary Whitehouse's battle with the then Director General of the BBC, Sir Hugh Carleton Greene, is screened.

Filth, which is being shown on BBC2 on May 28 is set in 1963 when Mrs Whitehouse embarked on a mission to clean up British television.

As a previously-unknown housewife and teacher from the Midlands, her crusade led her into battle with the man she held responsible for a tide of "filth", culminating in a bitter fight to broadcastthe word knickers in the Beatles' song I Am The Walrus.

In the 90-minute one-off drama, Julie Walters stars as Mary and Hugh Bonneville , who was in the film Notting Hill, plays her arch-enemy, Sir Hugh.

Inspired by real events, Filth brings to life the battle for Britain's morals that raged in the 1960s as Mrs Whitehouse, armed only with her own sense of good Christian values and a sharp tongue, embarked on a David versus Goliath mission to stop filth entering family homes via the television.

Mary Whitehouse lived in Ardleigh just outside Colchester for many years before moving into Abberton Manor Nursing Home where she died, aged 91, in 2001.

  • Filth: The Mary Whitehouse Story, is on BBC2 at 9pm on May 28.