Frankie Boyle among stars to blast BBC over Gaza documentary delay

MORE than 600 famous figures including comedian Frankie Boyle and Oscar-winning actress Susan Sarandon have accused on the BBC of 'political suppression' in its decision to delay the airing of a documentary on Gaza's doctors.
The documentary titled Gaza: Medics Under Fire was reportedly ready to be broadcast in February but has been shelved following the controversy around How to Survive a Warzone, which featured the son of a Hamas official.
The production firm behind the documentary on Gaza doctors, Basement Films, said the BBC has postponed airing the film until after a review into How to Survive a Warzone is completed.
A number of NHS doctors are reportedly writing to the BBC to air their frustrations over its decision to delay the screening of the film after they helped to introduce the documentary team to their counterparts in Gaza.
Now more than 600 prominent figures have signed an open letter to director-general Tim Davie expressing 'deep concern' about the 'censorship of Palestinian voices'.
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The letter accuses the BBC of 'demonstrating bias' in its reporting of events in Gaza, including in repeatedly delaying the broadcast of Gaza: Medics Under Fire, which signatories say represents 'political suppression'.
'This documentary was scheduled to air in January but has since been indefinitely delayed. It has undergone rigorous editorial scrutiny. It has been fact-checked and signed off repeatedly, and yet the BBC refuses to set a broadcast date,' the letter states.
'This is not editorial caution. It's political suppression. The BBC has provided no timeline, no transparency. Such decisions reinforce the systemic devaluation of Palestinian lives in our media.
'It's hard not to conclude that the BBC's gatekeeping is rooted in racism. The message is clear: Programmes about the ongoing genocide, told from Palestinian perspectives, are held to a different standard.
'If the voices of Palestinian doctors aren't considered credible – just as the voices of Palestinian children were previously dismissed – then whose voices does the BBC consider legitimate?
'Every day this film is delayed, the BBC fails in its commitment to inform the public, fails in its journalistic responsibility to report the truth, and fails in its duty of care to these brave contributors.'
Demanding a release date for the documentary, the letter added: 'No news organisation should quietly decide behind closed doors whose stories are worth telling.'
(Image: PA) Other signatories of the letter include ex-BBC journalist Karishma Patel – who quit the BBC over its reporting on Gaza – and actress Maxine Peake (above).
Historian William Dalrymple has also criticised the broadcaster's decision as he said the broadcaster is 'wrecking its reputation' over its failure to hold the Israeli Government to account.
The independent documentary production company Basement Films said it was 'deeply disappointed' that its film had not yet been aired yet, amid suggestions that the BBC had reversed an original plan to press ahead with the screening.
'There is no moral or professional reason why a mistake in one film should repeatedly prevent the release of another film,' the company said.
The BBC has been approached for comment.
Calls for BBC to become 'public service mutual'
Elsewhere, media expert Tom Mills has called major reform at the BBC insisting it should become 'public service mutual', with members actively involved in its operations.
Mills – who wrote The BBC: Myth of a Public Service – said these powers will create a 'direct relationship' between the public and the broadcaster, enabling them to hold management to account and be involved in setting the BBC's strategy.
(Image: Tom Mills) The Aston University sociologist has made the call ahead of the review of the BBC's Royal Charter in 2027, which defines the BBC's constitution and public purposes.
He points out that while the BBC is funded by the public, they have no control over how it works, while governments 'have interfered' with the broadcaster's independence and 'weakened' its public service mission.
'Unless the BBC is radically reformed, it faces a bleak future of dwindling audiences, collapsing funding and eventual irrelevance, depriving British audiences of one of the few national institutions with a duty to serve their needs and interests,' he said.
'The next BBC Royal Charter should mutualise the BBC, transforming it into an organisation owned and controlled by the British public.
'A mutualised BBC would continue to be an independent public service media institution, but one founded on a genuinely democratic relationship with the public.'
Setting out proposals for the reform, Mills said members of a mutualised BBC would be 'sovereign' and represented by a members' council which would organise members' participation in the BBC's activities and directly hold the BBC executive to account.
He added that any future funding mechanism by the BBC must be 'free from government control' and rated progressively on ability to pay.
Other proposals include:

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