BBC ordered to release emails related to Martin Bashir’s Princess Diana interview
A judge has ordered the BBC to release a large number of emails in relation to Martin Bashir’s now infamous 1995 interview with Princess Diana.
The emails all relate to a period in 2020 when the broadcaster was dealing with the scandal around the interview.
They were initially requested via a Freedom of Information (FOI) request submitted by Andrew Webb – a journalist and filmmaker who has been investigating the scandal.
Following a tribunal, Judge Brian Kennedy said the corporation had been “inconsistent, erroneous and unreliable” in the way it dealt with the initial request to release material under FOI law.
The judge added the BBC’s response was a “cause for serious concern”.
A BBC spokesperson said it “fully accepted” that “mistakes have been made in this case in the past” and it had apologised to Mr Webb.
“We are currently considering the tribunal’s decision carefully and it would not be appropriate to comment whilst the legal proceedings are ongoing,” the spokesperson added.
Mr Webb complained to a tribunal the BBC had failed to release more than 3,000 emails under FOI laws, related to its handling of the scandal in 2020. He described the BBC’s actions as a “cover up”.
Diana’s brother Earl Spencer criticised the broadcaster for trying to prevent the release of the emails, telling Radio 4: “The problem here is one of the integrity of people at the BBC.”
Martin Bashir in 2019
Bashir’s interview with the princess – once hailed as the scoop of a generation – was broadcast by BBC Panorama in 1995.
In the interview, Diana famously said of her marriage to Charles: “There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded.”
Earl Spencer maintained for years that Bashir showed him fake financial documents relating to Diana’s former private secretary Patrick Jephson and another former royal household member.
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William: ‘Deceitful’ BBC interview failed my mother
Earl Spencer also said the journalist had told outlandish and untrue stories about the Royal Family to get Diana onside, including that she was being spied on by the secret services.
The story about the faked documents was first reported in The Mail on Sunday a year after the interview, in 1996.
Read more:
Who is Martin Bashir?
Main findings from inquiry into BBC Panorama scoop
According to the BBC, Bashir admitted having the statements mocked up, but repeatedly denied showing these documents to Earl Spencer.
It was not until 2020, and an article in The Sunday Times, that the BBC admitted publicly for the first time that Earl Spencer had in fact been shown the faked bank documents by Bashir.
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Ex-BBC boss ‘deeply sorry’ to Prince William
In 2021, an independent inquiry, headed by Lord Dyson, found the broadcaster covered up “deceitful behaviour” used by journalist Bashir to secure the interview.
Bashir, meanwhile, was in “serious breach” of the BBC’s producer guidelines when he faked bank statements and showed them to Earl Spencer to gain access to the princess, Lord Dyson’s report found.
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Bashir left the BBC for ITV in 1999, but returned to the broadcaster in 2016, becoming its religious affairs editor. He officially stepped down from his job at the BBC in 2021.
In response to Lord Dyson’s findings, Bashir apologised, saying the faking of bank statements was “a stupid thing to do and was an action I deeply regret”.
But he added he felt it had “no bearing whatsoever on the personal choice by Princess Diana to take part in the interview”.
Angelina Jolie says although she appreciates being an artist, she would prefer for her legacy to be “a good mother” and to be known for her “belief in equality and human rights”.
The Oscar-winning actress stars as Maria Callas in the new Pablo Larrain film about the opera singer’s life.
Pic: StudioCanal
She has called Maria “the hardest” and “most challenging” role she has had in her career and put months of preparation into immersing herself into the world of opera.
Jolie, who recently reached a divorce settlement with actor Brad Pitt, told Sky News: “To be very candid, it was the therapy I didn’t realise I needed. I had no idea how much I was holding in and not letting out.
“So, the challenge wasn’t the technical [side of opera], it was an emotional experience to find my voice, to be in my body, to express. You have to give every single part of yourself.”
The biopic combines the voice of the Maleficent actress with recordings of Maria Callas.
Jolie believes it “would be a crime to not have [Callas’] voice through this because, in many ways, she is very present in this film”.
Who was Maria Callas?
Born in New York in 1923, Maria Callas was the daughter of Greek immigrants who moved back to Athens at the age of 13 with her mother and sister.
After enrolling at the Athens Conservatory, she made her professional debut at 17 and went on to become one of the most famous faces of opera, travelling around the world and performing at Covent Garden in London, The Met in New York and La Scala in Milan.
Callas’s final operatic performance took place at Covent Garden in 1965 when she was 41 but she continued to work conducting master classes at Juilliard School, doing concert tours and starring in the 1969 film Medea.
Written by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight, Maria focuses on the artist’s final years in the 1970s when she moved to Paris and disappeared from public view.
She died on 16 September 1977 at the age of 53.
Pic: StudioCanal
Jolie on changing motivations as an actor
Maria follows the life of an artist fully consumed by the art she creates and even remarks that “happiness never developed a beautiful melody”.
Reflecting on her own life in the spotlight, Jolie said she noticed her own career motivations change over the years.
“There’s this kind of study of being human that we do when we create, and we communicate with an audience because our work is not in isolation – it’s a connection.
“I think when I was younger, I had different questions about being human and different feelings and now as I’ve gotten older, I understand some things and now I have different questions.
“It’s a matter of life, right? And so maybe that’s interesting that this now is a character really contemplating death and really contemplating the toll of certain things in life that I, of course, couldn’t have understood in my 20s”.
Jolie at the New York Film Festival in September with three of her children (L-R) Pax, Zahara and Maddox. Pic: AP
A family affair
Two of Jolie’s children, Maddox and Pax, took on production assistant roles during the filming of Maria and witnessed their mother perform opera for the first time in public.
She says the film allowed them to create new experiences together and for her children to see her approach to playing a difficult role.
“Everyone in my home, we all give each other space to be who we are and we’re all different.
“I’m the mom, but I’m also an artist and a person and so my family has been very kind and gives me their understanding. They make fun of me, and they support me and just as you’d hope it would be.”
She adds: “When you play somebody who is dealing with so much pain, it’s very important to come home to some kindness.”
Maria is in cinemas now.
Tom Holland’s dad has confirmed his son’s engagement to Zendaya – revealing how the 28-year-old meticulously planned the proposal.
Zendaya, also 28, sparked engagement rumours when she attended last Sunday’s Golden Globes wearing a sparkling diamond on her ring finger.
Neither star has publicly addressed the rumours but Tom’s comedian father, Dominic Holland, has now confirmed the pair are set to wed.
He wrote in a post on his Patreon account: “Tom, as you know by now was very incredibly well prepared. He had purchased a ring.
“He had spoken with her father and gained permission to propose to his daughter.”
“Tom had everything planned out… When, where, how, what to say, what to wear,” he added.
Zendaya arrived at the Golden Globes with a noticeable piece of new jewellery. Pic: Invision/AP
Dominic also noted that while most men worry about being able to afford an engagement ring, he suspects his actor son was “more concerned with the stone, its size and clarity, its housing, which jeweller”.
Tom and Zendaya met on the set of Spider-Man: Homecoming in 2016, when they played the titular hero and his love interest MJ, respectively. Their romance was confirmed in 2021.
In his post, Tom’s father admitted fears over whether being in the spotlight could put a strain on the couple’s relationship.
He wrote: “I do fret that their combined stardom will amplify their spotlight and the commensurate demands on them and yet they continually confound me by handling everything with aplomb.”
“And even though show business is a messy place for relationships and particularly so for famous couples as they crash and burn in public and are too numerous to mention […] yet somehow right at the same time, I am completely confident they will make a successful union.”
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Zendaya rose to fame after landing a role in Disney sitcom Shake It Up, and became a household name after starring in Euphoria.
Holland – who has starred in three Spider-Man films opposite his now-fiancée – made his stage debut in Billy Elliot the Musical in 2008.
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