Sea of flowers for Diana... but row rages as BBC man calls it ‘mawkish’
A SENIOR BBC editor yesterday said he was “bored” by the coverage of the 20th anniversary of Princess Diana’s death – describing it as “mawkish drivel”.
Nick Serpell, the corporation’s obituary editor, responded to an appeal on Twitter by BBC presenter Simon McCoy for people’s thoughts on the Princess of Wales’s death in Paris in 1997.
Mr McCoy had tweeted: “Broadcasting BBC News Channel live from Kensington Palace. 20 years since death of Diana – seems like yesterday. Your thoughts?”
Mr Serpell quickly replied: “Bored.”
The 66-year-old journalist had said in an earlier Facebook post: “Hopefully today will the last on which we have to suffer mawkish media Diana drivel.”
Mr Serpell also retweeted a post by Times columnist Iain Martin on Wednesday night that read: “Incredible drivel on BBC Newsnight about Diana.
“It is simply not the case that everyone capitulated to the madness that week. Millions of us didn’t.” Mr Serpell remained unrepentant last night. He said: “People have all sorts of opinions.”
He has previously spoken about how the BBC was “caught out” by Diana’s death: “Sometimes we have two prominent people dying at the same time.
“The classic case I remember is Mother Teresa and the Princess of Wales, Princess Diana.
“Now obviously Princess Diana pushed a lot of Mother Teresa’s coverage off because it was seen, certainly in this country, as a much more significant death.”
The journalist is no stranger to controversy.
Speaking in April last year, he claimed that the growing wave of celebrity deaths was the new normal.
The BBC later issued a thinlyveiled rebuke to Mr Serpell.
A spokesman said: “The BBC has clear guidelines covering the use of personal social media – the journalist has been reminded of them and his responsibilities.”