BBC pulls broadcast of Panorama episode about Bashir and Diana

THE BBC has pulled the broadcast tonight of a Panorama investigation into its Diana, Princess of Wales, interview following the death of the Duke of Edinburgh.

The Panorama investigation into how Martin Bashir secured his interview with the princess had been due to air this evening in a half-hour primetime slot. But a decision was taken on Friday, following the Duke’s death, to postpone the screening. A new slot will be found in the schedules for a programme that is expected to be critical of Mr Bashir, the BBC’S current religious affairs editor.

A source said: “There is no way the BBC could run the investigation into the Diana interview on Monday. It was due out then but a decision was made within minutes of the Duke’s death to postpone the broadcast. There’s no new date yet but it will now wait until after the Duke’s funeral and will run at some point after that.”

Mr Bashir carried out the interview with the princess for Panorama, the programme he was working for at the time of the broadcast in 1995. The postponed Panorama investigation is intriguing because it is the programme effectively investigating itself.

In the original 1995 interview, Diana complained that there were “three people” in her marriage in a reference to the Prince of Wales’s infidelity with Camilla Parker-bowles. However, Mr Bashir’s methods for securing the interview have now come under intense scrutiny as has an allegation that the corporation covered up an internal inquiry. Mr Bashir is accused of using underhand methods to secure his scoop.

The Panorama programme, when it is eventually broadcast, is expected to be highly critical of Mr Bashir, who has admitted faking a bank statement which was then shown to Earl Spencer, the princess’s brother.

The faked statement is said to have been instrumental in persuading Earl Spencer to introduce Mr Bashir to his sister. The fallout from the interview speeded up the divorce of Diana from Prince Charles.

It would be inconceivable for the Panorama programme to be broadcast just 72 hours after the Duke’s death and just a few days prior to his funeral. The BBC is already facing complaints from some viewers over its coverage of the Duke’s death after the broadcaster on Friday cut from the schedules peak time favourites, including the final of Masterchef on BBC One, and replaced them with programmes about the Duke on both BBC One and BBC Two.

Under normal BBC procedure a special form was posted on the corporation’s website to collect all complaints in one place although that was removed yesterday after complainants dwindled. A senior BBC source has defended the BBC’S scheduling.

The Panorama investigation into Mr Bashir – now delayed – is being conducted by John Ware, an award-winning journalist and a former stalwart reporter on Panorama for 25 years. Now a freelancer, Mr Ware is understood to have found damning evidence that is likely to further undermine the BBC’S confidence in Mr Bashir.

It is unlikely Mr Bashir, who has been signed off work due to sickness after undergoing a quadruple heart bypass, will ever appear on BBC screens again. His fate is resting on a separate, internal BBC inquiry conducted by Lord Dyson, the former Master of the Rolls.

Mr Bashir has declined to speak publicly since the furore over the interview resurfaced last year, citing his ill health. However, he is understood to have vigorously defended his methods in evidence given to Lord Dyson’s inquiry.

A BBC spokesman said Panorama was not being broadcast today but insisted that it had never been publicly scheduled. A source said it had never been billed and therefore could not have been pulled.