Bodyguards keep watch on Songs of Praise squad
THE BBC hired a security detail to accompany a Songs of Praise production team as they filmed at a notorious Calais migrant camp.
The burly bodyguards shadowed Scots presenter Sally Magnusson and the ensemble of producers while carrying out the controversial shoot.
BBC bosses have been accused of wading into a politically sensitive issue by deciding to broadcast at taxpayers’ expense from a ramshackle church in the heart of the camp.
The mass of wooden huts and tents – known as the ‘New Jungle’ – is home to more than 5,000 migrants who use it as a base for their attempts to illegally enter the UK.
The BBC’s broadcast from the camp is expected to comprise a small part of the flagship religious programme when it eventually airs. A team of nine BBC staff members arrived in the camp yesterday morning to begin filming. Miss Magnusson was talked to members of the congregation from the makeshift Ethiopian Orthodox Church that has a congregation of around 500.
She was joined by the two ‘security consultants’, as well as a cameraman, sound engineer, field producer, fixer, researcher and translator.
The team was initially met with bemused looks from migrants who said they had never heard of the programme or Miss Magnusson.
The broadcaster, the daughter of former Mastermind host Magnus Magnusson, works as a newsreader for the BBC and has fronted programmes including the Daily Politics.
The crew’s presence failed to capture the imagination of the church’s followers with only small groups of migrants turning up to pray during the day.
MINISTERS were accused last night of spouting ‘hot air’ over a crackdown on illegal foreign workers. Immigration Minister James Brokenshire announced a wave of raids this autumn on firms that employ non-EU citizens who do not have permission to be in Britain. But the number of people arrested has halved in just a year, from 1,452 to a record low of 752.
But Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: ‘While any moves to clampdown on exploitation are welcome, this looks like more hot air from the Government.’
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