Channel 4 rejects plea not to show Diana images

Senior executives at Channel 4 were under renewed pressure yesterday after choosing to screen a controversial documentary on the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, tonight and ignore pleas from Prince William and Prince Harry not to include photographs of the fatal car crash.

The programme will go ahead in spite of a letter to Channel 4 from the princes' private secretary, Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, requesting that a series of images, including one of a French doctor administering oxygen to the Princess, be cut from the film.

The letter from Clarence House stated: "These photographs, regardless of the fact that they do not actually show the Princess's features, are redolent with the atmosphere and tragedy of the closing moments of her life. As such, they will cause the princes acute distress if they are shown to a public audience."

The row comes only days after Channel 4 was given an unprecedented rebuke by the broadcasting watchdog Ofcom over the bullying of the actress Shilpa Shetty on Celebrity Big Brother, prompting calls for the resignation of the broadcaster's chief executive, Andy Duncan.

But in a response to Mr Lowther-Pinkerton yesterday, Kevin Lygo, Channel 4's director of television and content, insisted that the programme, Diana: The Witnesses in the Tunnel, was of "important public value" and that the still photographs of the crash were "crucial to the programme's evidential arguments".

Mr Lygo said: "These photographs provide, for the first time, an accurate and detailed eye-witness record of an event of international importance that for 10 years has been obscured by conspiracy theories, claims and counter-claims."

The Conservatives' culture, media and sport spokesman, Hugo Swire, described the letter from Clarence House as an "unprecedented intervention from the Royal Family" and claimed that if Channel 4 were to ignore the Princes' request it would be "crossing the line".

Mr Lowther-Pinkerton, who had been allowed to attend an advance screening of the documentary, said the film's use of the pictures showed "gross disrespect" to the memory of the Princess. He wrote: "If it were your or my mother dying in that tunnel, would we want the scene broadcast to the nation? Indeed, would the nation so want it?"

But the head of history, science and religion at Channel 4, Hamish Mykura, to whom the letter was addressed, said his father had been killed in a car crash and he would not object to images of his dying moments being broadcast if it were in the public interest. Mr Mykura said: "I lost a parent in a road accident so I am in no doubt about the pain that that can cause. But I do feel that if the subject had been reported in the press like this, there are circumstances in which it would be correct for it to be broadcast, as long as it was handled in a measured and responsible way."

Mr Lygo's letter makes clear that Channel 4 believed it was being helpful to Clarence House in letting the princes' representatives see the film in advance, to counter press reports that claimed the show would include "explicit images" of the crash. He said many of the pictures had been used before in other documentaries and in the press.

Don Foster, the Liberal Democrat spokesman on culture, media and sport, said Channel 4 was "right to refuse the princes' request". ITN, which made the programme for Channel 4, claimed it was a "sober and trustworthy analysis" of the tragedy.

The princes will mark the 10th anniversary of their mother's death with a concert in her honour at Wembley Stadium on 1 July, which would have been her 46th birthday.

The Princes' request

Extract from a letter to Channel 4 from Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, private secretary to princes William and Harry:

"Their Royal Highnesses' position remains unchanged from that clearly articulated in July 2006, on the occasion of the Italian magazine, Chi, publishing a photograph of the scene surrounding their mother's dying moments.

"To remind you of what they said then: 'We appeal to all forms of media throughout the world to appreciate fully that publishing such material causes great hurt to us, our father, our mother's family and all those who so loved and respected her.'

"These photographs are redolent with the atmosphere and tragedy of the closing moments of her life.

"As such, they will cause the princes acute distress if they are shown to a public audience, not just for themselves, but also on their mother's behalf, in the sense of intruding upon the privacy and dignity of her last minutes.

"Put simply, if it were your or my mother dying in that tunnel would we want the scene broadcast to the nation?"

Extract from a letter from Kevin Lygo, director of television and content at Channel 4, to Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton:

"We unequivocally regret that distress has been caused to [the princes] by the press coverage and that the very broadcast of this film will cause further distress.

"However, Channel 4 must weigh these understandable emotions against the important public value which we believe there is in this documentary which we still believe to be a responsible film which sheds important light on a crucial aspect of the car crash and its immediate aftermath through the use of a limited number of non-explicit photographs and eyewitness accounts of the... crash.

"We do not believe that this programme is in any way disrespectful to the memory of Diana, Princess of Wales."