BBC chief suggests controversial TV show on Gaza could still be reinstated
4 March 2025, 11:24 | Updated: 4 March 2025, 13:11
The director-general of the BBC has not ruled out reinstating a controversial TV show about life on the ground in Gaza.
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Tim Davie has been giving evidence to a committee of MPs after it emerged the programme was narrated by the son of a Hamas official.
When asked whether the programme could come back 'after editing,' he said: "I'm not ruling anything out."
Mr Davie said there is "a lot of frustration and disappointment" that the BBC Gaza documentary has affected public trust in the corporation.
He told the Committee: "Firstly, I'd say nothing's more important than we're trusted and we have actually built trust... so you can imagine that there's a lot of frustration and disappointment. It's not about the BBC and people like myself, but we're very sorry to the audience, because we don't want to be in a position where we have flaws in the programme-making.
"And overall, I am proud of the way we're covering some of these polarised, fiendishly difficult events where many of our journalists, as you know, are under enormous pressure, ferocious lobbying, and it's been extremely difficult."
However, he acknowledged that there were "flaws" with this documentary and said they have had around 500 complaints about the film being biased against Israel, and around 1,800 who wanted the film being put back on iPlayer.
The broadcaster apologising last week for "serious flaws" in the making of the programme Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone.
The corporation removed it from BBC iPlayer after it emerged that the child narrator is the son of Ayman Alyazouri, who has worked as Hamas's deputy minister of agriculture.
After conducting an initial review of the programme, the broadcaster said independent production company Hoyo Films, who made the film, told them the boy's mother had been paid "a limited sum of money for the narration".
The BBC added that it has no plans to broadcast the documentary again or return it to iPlayer.
In a letter to the BBC on Monday, Ofcom chairman Lord Grade said the regulator could step in if an internal inquiry into the making of the documentary is not satisfactory.
Lord Grade said Ofcom has "ongoing concerns about the nature and gravity of these failings and the negative impact they have on the trust audiences place in the BBC's journalism".
He added: "We will continue to keep the situation under close review and will expect regular updates from the BBC regarding both timeframes and progress and reserve the right to use our powers to step in should we feel it necessary to do so, given that the BBC Board has decided these to be internal investigations."
Over the weekend, the Metropolitan Police said it had received a "number of reports raising concerns" and that officers from its Counter Terrorism Command are "assessing whether any police action is required in relation to this matter".
