While Nine’s two-part miniseries House Of Hancock likely led to screaming and shattering of Faberge eggs at Gina Rinehart‘s own house, it also led to legal drama, which saw certain key scenes cut from last night’s concluding chapter.
Part two of the miniseries aired last night, however, following a settlement between the mining magnate and the network, the version that Australian audiences saw was significantly altered from the original.
Over the weekend, Rinehart’s lawyers made an application to the Supreme Court, demanding to see the episode ahead of time, concerned that it would contain “injurious falsehoods” and defame her character.
Exact details of the settlement are unknown, however, before last night’s broadcast, Nine aired a disclaimer saying that the program was “a drama, not a documentary”, and that certain elements had been fictionalised.
Critics who had apparently been given early access to House Of Hancock noted several key elements missing in last night’s broadcast. Per News Limited, these include:
– A closing scene in which present-day Hancock “lumbers slowly across the red dirt of the Pilbara” as explosions tear up the landscape behind her
– A scene in which Rinehart “berates” her daughter after catching her in bed reading a magazine featuring a scandalous headline
– A storyline involving a sexual harassment complaint brought against Rinehart by a former live-in security guard in the late 1990s
Her lawyers also took issue with scenes that depicted her conversing with the ghost of her dead father Lang Hancock, arguing that this hoariest of dramatic devices impugned her “sanity, soundness of mind or acumen.”
Though the concluding part of the series has now aired, Rinehart is reportedly still fuming, and “considering her legal options” against Nine.
