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BBC to air Queen documentary

By Press Gazette

The BBC is to go ahead with its documentary on the Queen, which led to an inquiry and the resignation of BBC1 controller Peter Fincham.

BBC1 is to screen the five-part series, A Year with the Queen, now renamed Monarchy: The Royal Family At Work, before Christmas this year.

All profits from sales of the series worldwide by independent producer RDF Media will be given to charities nominated by the royal household.

The series caused controversy earlier this year when a promotional clip, shown to journalists at a seasonal launch, was edited to make it look as if the monarch had walked out of a photo shoot.

The row that followed led to the resignation of BBC1 controller Peter Fincham and RDF creative director Stephen Lambert, after the latter admitted editing footage in the promo.

Jana Bennett, director of BBC Vision, today confirmed that BBC1 will go ahead with the planned series, completed by a new project team, set up and supervised by the BBC and consisting of staff from the BBC, from RDF Television and freelancers.

Denys Blakeway will head up the production team as an independent executive producer reporting to BBC commissioning executive Martin Davidson.

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In the fallout over the footage, broadcasters Channel 4 and Five announced plans to “safeguard viewer trust” by co-authoring a handbook on best practice for all independent producers. The BBC also announced a raft of new measures to tighten up communciation within the corporation’s upper ranks.

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