Channel 4 returns to Diana scandal

Commercially funded UK pubcaster Channel 4 has commissioned a fast-turnaround follow-up to its recent documentary on Diana Princess of Wales.

Princess Diana
(photo: John Mathew Smith)

Diana: The Truth Behind the Interview focused on the circumstances around a 1995 interview for the BBC’s Panorama secured with the Princess by journalist Martin Bashir, in which she spoke frankly about Prince Charles’s affair with Camilla Parker-Bowles.

Revelations about how the interview was secured have led the BBC to set up an independent inquiry.

Now Blink Films is working on another doc for C4 titled The Diana Interview: The Truth Behind The Scandal, examining the controversy around the programme and providing further revelations from Freedom of Information requests and royal insiders.

Interviewees taking part include Diana’s former private secretary Patrick Jephson, who reveals the personal impact on him caused by allegations made by Bashir to Diana that he was being paid to spy on her by MI5 and that he is considering his legal options.

The exec producer is Dan Chambers, the producer is Lesley Davies and Andy Webb is directing. The doc was commissioned by Shaminder Nahal, Channel 4’s commissioning editor, arts and topical.