View all newsletters
Sign up for our free email newsletters

Fighting for quality news media in the digital age.

  1. Archive content
August 4, 2005updated 22 Nov 2022 4:21pm

BBC governors to probe documentary

By Press Gazette

By Hamish Mackay

BBC governors have ordered an investigation into claims that a BBC
Two documentary on life in the Scottish town of Campbeltown was
“deliberately dishonest and misleading”.

The programme followed the lives of four disillusioned teenagers
drinking alcohol and driving fast cars to relieve the boredom of living
in a place allegedly devoid of opportunities or entertainment.

The BBC initially insisted that the 50-minute documentary represented the personal view of London-based film-maker Paddy Wivell.

However,
the corporation’s editorial complaints unit has already admitted that
the way the programme was billed and its title “all suggested that the
particular circumstances were more than incidental”.

It found that the programme was flawed in its portrayal of Campbeltown, which was unfair and negative.

One
viewer was not satisfied with that response and contended that the BBC
had not examined the specific complaint that the programme had been
“deliberately dishonest and misleading”.

Content from our partners
MHP Group's 30 To Watch awards for young journalists open for entries
How PA Media is helping newspapers make the digital transition
Publishing on the open web is broken, how generative AI could help fix it

The BBC governors’
programme complaints committee (GPCC) has now upheld that complaint and
agreed the documentary had followed Wivell’s “predetermined agenda”.

The GPCC has ordered the BBC’s editorial complaints unit to examine the documentary again.

The documentary was commissioned by the BBC’s factual department and broadcast last August.

Wivell has declined to comment on the GPCC judgement.

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

Select and enter your email address Weekly insight into the big strategic issues affecting the future of the news industry. Essential reading for media leaders every Thursday. Your morning brew of news about the world of news from Press Gazette and elsewhere in the media. Sent at around 10am UK time. Our weekly does of strategic insight about the future of news media aimed at US readers. A fortnightly update from the front-line of news and advertising. Aimed at marketers and those involved in the advertising industry.
  • Business owner/co-owner
  • CEO
  • COO
  • CFO
  • CTO
  • Chairperson
  • Non-Exec Director
  • Other C-Suite
  • Managing Director
  • President/Partner
  • Senior Executive/SVP or Corporate VP or equivalent
  • Director or equivalent
  • Group or Senior Manager
  • Head of Department/Function
  • Manager
  • Non-manager
  • Retired
  • Other
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
Thank you

Thanks for subscribing.

Websites in our network