By Gabriel Princewill-
Omid Scobie’s view that the BBC’s 1996 panorama interview should remain accessible to the public for viewing is unarguably flawed due to the illegitimacy about the way the documentary was secured.
Omid Scobie, who co-authored the unauthorised biography of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in 2020 titled Finding Freedom, has expressed his disagreement with Prince William , who called for the BBC never to show the heart breaking 1996 documentary again , which at the time created heart ache the royal family. William’s comment came following the release of the damning Dyson report into the BBC programme shown to have been made through an unethical and illegal process.
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Scobie , who called for the corporation to be punished for the way it led the investigation said he disagreed with Prince William’s view that the programme should never be aired again, stating that the majority of Diana’s Panorama revelations were already in [Andrew] Morton’s book years earlier.
The writer notably did not double down on Earl Spencer’s(the surviving brother of the late Diana) open call for criminal charges to be issued against offending individuals .
Instead, he called for some punitive measure to be levied against the corporation for the unscrupulous conduct of highly ranked BBC officials in failing to hold Bashir accountable for the palpable indiscretions comprising his unlawful conduct.
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The Met at the time said said officers had sought legal advice from internal lawyers, independent counsel, and the Crown Prosecution Service, and determined it was “not appropriate” to launch a criminal probe.
The ill-gotten documentary has been widely lambasted for the corrupt process through which it was procured; exposing a dishonourable structure at the helm of the BBC nearly three decades ago.
An unreserved apology has since been made by the BBC, with compensation paid to two former employees of the BBC who were at the time internally vilified for blowing the whistle at Bashir’s abhorrent method in achieving an exclusive interview from the most beautiful and photographed woman in the world in the late 90’s.
The corporation’s formal apology has evidently not satisfied Scobie or Princess Diana’s brother, Charles Spencer, who has since called for the police to pursue criminal charges in light of opinions shared with him by different lawyers.
The historically aired documentary cannot be reversed. Its most poignant revelations is eternally and irreversibly registered in the memory of the British public and the many more countless viewers all of the world who watched the documentary. The statements made by Diana has had its impact on history
And although the BBC has done its best to salvage the enormity of the damage from the programme by vowing never to show it again, it cannot abort the full scale of the harm caused by its now discredited former staff, Martin Bashir.
Princess Diana’s interview with Martin Bashir Image: ITV
Some analysts keeping tabs on the royal family’s well documented issues with the press believe Scobie may have expressed the view with tainted spectacles in a partisan spirit aimed at attacking or discrediting Prince William.
According to that view, Scobie is more inclined to favour Prince Harry, who may possibly prefer the documentary not to be permanently discarded, given the announcement early this year for Camilla Parker Bowles to be Queen consort.
Sheila Mckenzie, a keen analyst of royal affairs said: ”Though Prince Harry was himself hurt and disappointed to learn of the Bashir scandal which led to the panorama special 26 years ago, Scobie probably knows or belieeves the Duke of Sussex would rather the intrusion of Camilla into his mother’s relationship with his father in the 90’s is never forgotten, and see the now discredited BBC documentary as the permanent reminder of that history.
”Prince William is believed to have accepted the awkward state of affairs, as part of his life long commitment to the institution of the monarchy of which he is a key member. Prince William’s seeming comfort with the idea may be unhelpful to the already strained relationship between him and his brother, but just imagine if the Duke of Cambridge has grown to love Camilla and accept the situation for what it is, what then?
Camilla doesn’t talk much in public, but just imagine her having a nice warm personality, and the rest of the royal family concluding that Prince Charles’s undying love for her will need to be officially recognised when he becomes queen. It becomes very difficult, but we can see possible reasons why Omid Scobie may have taken the position he has”.
Whilst the idea of Camilla ever being established at the pinnacle of the royal hierarchical structure in Buckingham Palace is unpalatable with Harry’s sensibilities, it has no bearing on the spurious mechanisms used to deliver the widely condemned documentary.
”The programme should remain dead and buried in the archives of the BBC, never to be seen again.
Scobie should be careful about his public comments in relation to the fractious relationships in the royal family partly contributed to by Bashir’s despicable actions of the past.
Scobie was contacted for comment in response to the concluded analysis that his conclusion was erroneous , and The Eye Of Media’s well-reasoned view that the decision to leave the now contaminated programme in the past programme is the correct one.
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