Why did TV chiefs blur out image of Scots naval hero?
HE was one of our greatest naval heroes whose exploits paved the way for Nelson’s victory at Trafalgar.
But to the dismay of TV viewers, Admiral Adam Duncan has been expunged from Channel 5’s documentary about life on board HMS Duncan, the Royal Navy’s £1billion warship named in his honour.
The Dundee-born sailor’s portrait looks proudly down on a briefing room in several of the show’s scenes, but while the audience has been treated to footage of the vessel’s weapons, it has been mystified by the blurring out of his image.
Was the admiral, whose defeat of the Dutch in 1797 was hailed ‘one of the most significant actions in naval history’, guilty of some heinous crime that might offend in these sensitive times? Not so, it transpires.
Initially, the Navy said the painting was obscured because of ‘copyright’, but it usually lasts only 70 years after the creator’s death and its artist, Sir Henry Raeburn, died nearly 200 years ago. Then Channel 5 said the painting is owned by the National Portrait Gallery which wanted £1,500 for each episode of Warship: Life At Sea in which it appeared. But that wasn’t wholly correct either – the gallery said it was not one of its paintings.
Last night Channel 5 was unable to shed any further light on the mystery and the Navy could provide only partial clarification. ‘It is a copy of the original but still subject to image rights,’ said a Navy spokesman.