- British Broadcasting Complaint (BBC) - 3rd March 2026
- Rocket man - 2nd March 2026
- Death wish two - 2nd March 2026
A complaint received by the outgoing head of the BBC Tim Davie about the standard of its drama output, once again highlights the BBC’s REFUSAL to answer The Eye’s questions concerning the string of scandals which have engulfed the giant corporation.
Darren Tierney, Permanent Secretary at the Office for National Statistics (ONS), wrote to Mr Davie of his concern about a fictional series.
Mr Tierney declared that it had: “caused worry among our interviewers”.
He added that the programme had also undermined the “delicate relationship” with the public.
Clearly other ‘relationships’ will have to be examined as well, by whoever takes over Mr Davie’s high-profile role as BBC Director General (DG), with a former Google executive, and rower called Matt Brittin (who has been described as an “odd fit”) leading the pack.
Both Mr Davie, and his Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of News Deborah Turness resigned over a huge row concerning a Panorama programme about Donald Trump.
These shocking resignations came amid criticism that the BBC Panorama (where our Editor, Welshman Phil Parry has worked) misled viewers by editing together two parts of a speech.
Ms Turness has rejected institutional bias and said that journalists “aren’t corrupt”, proclaiming that BBC journalists are “hardworking people”, although
She announced: “…there is no escaping the fact he (Mr Davie) was very slow to act on this particular issue”.
The BBC reported: “This is seismic. To lose both the director general and the CEO of BBC News at the same time is unprecedented. It’s an extraordinary moment in the history of the BBC”.
The Guardian published: ‘In an announcement that caused shock within the corporation, Davie said his departure was “entirely my decision” and it comes as the BBC prepares to apologise for the way it edited a Trump speech’.
The Daily Mail stated: “…the scandal-hit broadcaster was this week plunged into a fresh crisis after an internal dossier exposed a string of incidents that demonstrate serious apparent bias in the Corporation’s reporting”.
Enormous condemnation of the corporation has hit social media too, with one critic saying there was pro-nationalist party Plaid Cymru (Plaid) bias to be addressed in BBC Cymru Wales (BBC CW).
The Daily Telegraph first broke the story of bias, but the BBC (where Phil was for 23 years) seemed unable to get on the front foot in the face of a deluge of damaging headlines about claims that it was systemic.
It appeared there was a rift between the BBC board and the news division with some arguing the corporation had, for too long, failed to address institutional bias, and others questioning whether what unfolded had been an orchestrated – and politicised – campaign against the corporation which claimed two big scalps.
The BBC had allowed the story to fester – and the White House called a scene in the programme at the heart of it all “fake news”.
The US president himself also weighed into the debate saying in a post on his Truth Social platform, that he celebrated the resignations and accused the BBC of “doctoring” his speech as well as of “trying to step on the scales of a presidential election”.
At a board meeting to discuss the growing crisis Ms Turness was apparently “ripped apart“.
Even before Mr Tierney’s complaint was made public, it was clear the background to the shock announcement of the departures was extraordinary, because former Prime Minister (PM) Boris Johnson had unleashed a furious tirade against the BBC, in which he had also slammed two veteran presenters, while demanding Mr Davie’s resignation.
The huge broadcaster had been accused of selectively editing a speech by President Trump to make it appear clearer that he had encouraged the US Capitol attack, according to a former external adviser to the corporation.
An edition of Panorama, broadcast a week before the US election, spliced together clips of a speech by him made on January 6 2021, which suggested that he told the crowd: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol and I’ll be there with you, and we fight. We fight like hell”.
Worries have been raised in the past, too, about the corporation’s impartiality, despite Mr Davie declaring in Cardiff soon after his appointment: “If you want to be an opinionated columnist or partisan campaigner on social media then that is a valid choice, but you should not be working at the BBC”.
BBC rules underline this, and say that staff should also avoid using disclaimers such as ‘My views, not the BBC’s’ in their biographies and profiles, as they provide no defence against personal expressions of opinion.
It seems, though, that taking disciplinary action earlier against him was tempered by the knowledge that there were few alternatives, but the decision has now been taken out of the hands of senior officials
Perhaps the new person in charge may scrutinise complaints more closely, such as those of President Trump and Mr Tierney, as well as all the past controversies.
After the scandals it had seemed reasonable to ask the BBC about them.
This is the (extremely polite) request Phil put to their Media Office (MO) on December 19 2024, and he was encouraged because on the BBC’s website it is stated: “Enquiries from journalists will be responded to as quickly as possible”.
Hello.
I am Editor of a news website called The Eye.
Could you please answer the following questions:
1. In the light of the Gregg Wallace, and other affairs, what, if any, programmes are now not to be transmitted, and how many of them are there?
2. What, if any, changes have been made to your Whistleblowers’ Charter, and what are the dates of these?
3. What, if any, changes have been made to your safeguarding policies, and what are the dates of these?
Statements can be made by return to this address – it is checked constantly and is totally secure.
Thank you,
Phil Parry
To date, though, there has been NO reply apart from two automated messages saying that the requests had been received.
Perhaps these questions are too difficult to answer when your boss has quit, and there are revelations that he faced a complaint about a drama production from a leading figure.
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