Controversial Diana images to be aired
Updated on 27 May 2007
There have been calls for a documentary featuring graphic pictures of the car crash that killed Diana, Princess of Wales, to be pulled.
The Channel 4 programme, Diana: The Witnesses in the Tunnel, includes the first public airing of images taken by French paparazzi immediately after the tragedy.
Diana, 36, and her lover Dodi al Fayed, 42, were killed ten years ago this August when their Mercedes crashed in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel in Paris as they sped away from pursuing photographers after departing the Ritz Hotel.
One image reportedly shows Princess Diana receiving oxygen from a French doctor and others are explicit shots of the car's interior.
Shadow Culture Secretary Hugo Swire has urged the broadcaster not to air the programme.
Mr Swire said: "It should be remembered that Diana, as well was being a public figure, was a mother. This kind of coverage must be deeply distressing to Princes William and Harry."
He added: "We would expect more from a public service broadcaster than showing sensationalist material in this way. It is difficult to see who will be served from broadcasting such sensational and private material.
"The best thing Channel 4 can do for the British public and Diana's family is simply not to broadcast this programme."
A Channel 4 spokesman said there is a "genuine public interest" in the events that followed the crash, adding: "We don't think the pictures are intrusive and we have thought very carefully about the sensitivities of the families involved.
"Appropriate action has been taken to avoid unwanted intrusion into the privacy of the families."
An inquest into Diana and Dodi's deaths is due to begin fully in October.
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