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C4 response to Clarence House
Channel 4 has responded to a letter from Clarence House about the transmission of 'Diana: The Witnesses in the Tunnel'. ( > Read the Clarence House letter).Head of Programmes at Channel 4, Julian Bellamy, has also issued the following statement:
"Channel 4 acknowledges the concerns expressed by the Princes William and Harry about the documentary; we would like to make clear that it was not our intention in commissioning this programme to cause them distress and we do not believe the film is in any way disrespectful to the memory of Princess Diana.
"We have weighed the Princes’ concerns against the legitimate public interest we believe there is in the subject of this documentary and in the still photography it includes.
"No images of the victims of the crash are shown in this film because we made a clear decision from the outset to uphold the consensus quite properly reached by the British media not to use any images that depict the occupants of the car after the crash. Those images that are included have been selected with due consideration for the feelings of the relatives of those involved.
"We believe, in this context, the photographs and the assembled interviewees provide the most detailed and credible eyewitness account yet delivered of an event of international importance that for ten years has been obscured by claim and counter-claim. They support the first-hand testimony of passers-by and the photographers at the scene who have been publicly criticised and condemned for their behaviour that night.
"The programme goes no further visually or in tone than many previous British TV and newspaper reports. A number of the pictures in the documentary have already appeared in the British media in a similar context.
"Commentators who have watched the programme for preview purposes have agreed that it is a responsible documentary. We believe this view will be shared by those who watch it.
"Channel 4 has scheduled an additional programme later on the same evening in which the issues raised by the Channel's decision to show the programme will be debated."
> Read about the programme
> Read the Channel 4 statement about the programme
> Read the Clarence House letter to Channel 4
> The Channel 4 response to the Clarence House letter
> Download the letter from Channel 4 to Clarence House
> The debate programme
