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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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.
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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”.
Taylor Swift has revealed the release date for her new album, The Life Of A Showgirl.
The pop megastar announced her 12th studio album earlier this week but didn’t give many details.
Now, in social media posts and an appearance on boyfriend Travis Kelce’s sports podcast, Swift revealed just what fans can expect from the new album.
Taylor Swift and boyfriend Travis Kelce on the New Heights podcast. Pic: New Heights
The Life of Showgirl, written during the European leg of her record-breaking Eras tour, will be released on 3 October.
It consists of 12 songs, including the title track that features pop star Sabrina Carpenter.
The full track list is:
1. The Fate Of Ophelia
2. Elizabeth Taylor
3. Opalite
4. Father Figure
5. Eldest Daughter
6. Ruin The Friendship
7. Actually Romantic
8. Wi$h Li$t
9. Wood
10. Cancelled!
11. Honey
12. The Life Of A Showgirl (featuring Sabrina Carpenter)
Long-time collaborators Max Martin and Shellback, two Swedish producers who worked with Swift on some of her biggest hits, joined the pop star for this album.
Within four hours of posting the full podcast episode on YouTube, it had already gathered 4.7m views.
The cover of Taylor Swift’s newly announced album. Pic: Republic Records
The back cover of Taylor Swift’s 12th studio album The Life Of A Showgirl. Pic: Republic Records
‘The hardest-working star in pop’
The album follows last year’s The Tortured Poets Department, which was released during the Eras tour.
That tour, with shows on five continents and in 51 cities, raked in more than $2.2bn (£1.62bn) and was the highest-grossing tour of all time.
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“This album is about what was going on behind the scenes in my inner life during this tour, which was so exuberant and electric and vibrant,” Swift said during her podcast appearance.
Sky News culture and entertainment reporter Gemma Peplow said after her globe-trotting tour and a swathe of re-releases over recent years, the new album cemented Swift’s reputation “as the hardest-working star in pop”.
Disgraced US film producer Harvey Weinstein is to be tried for a third time in a sexual assault case.
A jury in New York could not reach a verdict in June against the 73-year-old who was accused of raping actress Jessica Mann, and a mistrial was declared.
Judge Curtis Farber has said he wants the new trial to happen before the end of this year.
The same jury found Weinstein guilty in June of sexually assaulting former Project Runway production assistant Miriam Haley in 2006 and not guilty of assaulting Polish former runway model Kaja Sokola the same year.
Weinstein will be sentenced for the guilty verdict in Ms Haley’s case on 30 September.
He denied all of the charges. Throughout the retrial, his lawyers insisted the sexual encounters with his three accusers were “transactional” and “consensual,” and labelled the women as opportunists.
Weinstein was originally convicted of rape and criminal sexual act by the same court in 2020 and sentenced to 23 years in prison for the crimes.
Last year, however, New York’s highest court overturned the conviction, prompting Weinstein’s retrial this summer.
Weinstein was once one of the most powerful people in Hollywood – the co-founder of film and television production companies Miramax and The Weinstein Company, who produced films such as the Oscar-winning Shakespeare In Love, Pulp Fiction, and The Crying Game.
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In 2017, a series of sexual misconduct allegations against him propelled the #MeToo movement.
Some of those accusations later led to criminal charges and his convictions in New York and California.
Before the retrial, Weinstein was also serving a 16-year prison sentence after being found guilty of rape in California in December 2022. He has also denied this charge.
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