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April 14, 2005updated 22 Nov 2022 3:03pm

BBC under fire over unseen Holyrood film

By Press Gazette

By Hamish Mackay

A fresh row has broken out over the footage of BBC Scotland’s documentary series on the new Scottish Parliament at Holyrood.

Lord Fraser, who chaired the public inquiry into why the £431m
building was ten times over budget, has declared he is to launch a
legal challenge to force the documentary maker – IWC Media – to hand
over 400 hours of unbroadcast film.

The series, The Gathering
Place, which had almost £1m of public funding, was shown in a four-part
series on BBC Two Scotland last month.

IWC Media has offered Lord
Fraser access to the full interviews with the late First Minister
Donald Dewar and Holyrood architect Enric Miralles. But it will not
release all the footage.

Lord Fraser is taking advice over
whether he can bring the Inquiries Act into play. It grants powers to
obtain evidence that government inquiries consider essential to
investigations.

Lord Fraser said: “The change in the law means
that a court order could have forced IWC Media to hand over the tapes
and I will be checking whether this can now be applied to the Holyrood
inquiry.”

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