(an interview with the production team, by Clive King)

“At one point, we were going to call the film Scapegoat, because that's really what it's all about," the film's producer, Malcolm Craddock tells me as we trudge through the glutinous mud to the welcome comfort of a pub. There we are joined by screenwriter Peter Berry and by Campbell Malone, who is acting as a consultant to the production. "I keep suggesting they should call it Delusions of Innocence," says Malone. "The authorities regarded Stefan as a schizophrenic with delusions of innocence."

In the event, the two-hour television drama has been called A Life for a Life, a movie-of-the-week title which fails to convey the delicate, unexploitative approach the film-makers have taken to their potentially sensational subject matter.

"Very shortly after Stefan's release, the Kiszkos received several serious approaches to make a film," recalls Malone. "Charlotte and Stefan were very much in favour of telling the story and I felt they should choose the people to do it. In a sense we auditioned the producers and directors."

Neither mother or son lived to see themselves portrayed by Oscar- winner Olympia Dukakis and newcomer Tony Maudsley; Stefan suffered a fatal heart attack 18 months after his release and Charlotte passed away six months later.

"My impression when I met them was that they were completely bound together," remarks Craddock. "You know how sometimes you meet a married couple who are so dependent on each other that if one goes the other will go very, very quickly." He adds there was nothing "unwholesome" about this mother- son symbiosis, something Berry also stresses when he talks about the time he spent with the Kiszkos while researching the script.

The first time he met Stefan, Berry was confronted by his own prejudices: "I realised that if I had been on that jury, I might have been swayed by the way he looked." Stefan's manner did nothing to assuage the writer's initial discomfort. "I sat down and talked to him and realised he wasn't talking back. He didn't say anything for the whole day. After 10 or 12 minutes, I ran out of sensible things to say and I thought `I've blown this'.

"When I arrived the next day, he stood up and walked out. Then he returned, with the strongest cups of tea in the world, and talked, just a little. On the third day, he was much more open. In the end, one of the difficulties I had was getting the information I needed for the story, without making it too painful for Stefan."

Charlotte was much more forthcoming. "She could talk under wet cement," laughs Berry. "She would talk and talk and talk and talk. She'd say `This is what you've got to get right, Mr Writer!'."

A Slovenian immigrant who came to Britain at 18, Charlotte was used to fighting her corner. Living in post-war England with a Germanic accent and bringing up an odd-looking, socially awkward son made sure of that.

The Independent, © 1998 Newspaper Publishing PLC

A LIFE FOR A LIFE
Best Writer and Best Network Newcomer, Royal Television Society Awards
Best Single Drama, nomination, BAFTA Awards
Best Single Drama, Prix Italia Award

Now available on DVD, the story of one of the most tragic miscarriages of justice in British legal history.