Update: Channel 4 has picked up this doc and is now airing it at 10pm on Wednesday 2 July. Read their statement on it here
Basement Films plans to release its BBC doc Gaza: Doctors Under Attack independently or with a third party after the corporation shelved the completed film because it “risked creating a perception of partiality”.
The doc had been on pause while the BBC investigated Hoyo Films’ Gaza: How to Survive a War Zone due to impartiality concerns raised after its broadcast.
However, the BBC today said it was now “transferring ownership of the film material to Basement Films”.
The BBC said that it “became apparent” that it had reached “the end of the road” in discussions with the company.
Its statement came after Basement founder Ben de Pear branded BBC director-general a “PR person”.
De Pear told delegates: “All the decisions about our film were not taken by journalists; they were taken by Tim Davie, [who] is taking editorial decisions which, frankly, he is not capable of making.
“The BBC’s primary purpose is TV news and current affairs, and if it’s failing on that, it doesn’t matter what drama it makes or sports it covers. It is failing as an institution. And if it’s failing on that, then it needs new management.”
In a follow-up Instagram post, Basement said the BBC had told the company several times since March, both verbally and by email, that the doc was approved for broadcast.
It claimed the BBC had given the producers six different release dates for the film, which had been subjected to “a long and repeated compliance process as well as scrupulous fact-checking”.
Furthermore, it said, the BBC had said the doc was “a vital piece of public service journalism, and categorically not being delayed because of the Johnstone report”.
In March, a BBC spokeswoman said Gaza: Medics Under Fire [as the doc was then known] will air “as soon as possible”, describing it as “a powerful piece of reporting”.
However, the BBC has now said production of the doc was “paused” in April and it had not had a final pre-broadcast sign-off.
It stated emphatically: “Any film broadcast will not be a BBC film."
Regarding the contributors to the film, the BBC said it was sorry it could not tell the doctors’ stories, and had hoped to feature some of the material in its news programmes.
In its Instagram post, Basement said: “We would like to thank the doctors and contributors and survivors, and to apologise for not believing them when they said the BBC would never run a film like this. It turned out they were right.”
