Film from inside twin towers to be shown

A controversial documentary featuring footage shot inside the World Trade Centre during the 11 September attacks is to be screened by the BBC to mark the first anniversary of the atrocity.

The film, called 9/11, will be shown on BBC1 as part of an evening of programmes about the attacks on New York and Washington, despite complaints from victims' relatives.

When the American network CBS first showed the documentary in March this year, bereaved families complained about the trauma of watching the material.

The documentary, which reconstructs in detail the events which led to the twin towers' collapse, includes footage shot by French journalists as the planes struck the buildings.

A prosecutor in Bergen County, an area where the many victims came from, said such a forensic reconstruction of the attacks could have widespread repercussions for survivors and relatives.

William Schmidt said: "We are concerned about the psychological effects that graphic details of death and destruction may have on thousands of traumatised individuals."

The screening of the documentary by CBS drew an audience of 39 million – a third of all viewers – and received critical acclaim in the US. It has been nominated for six Emmy awards.

But Carie Lemack, president of the Families of September 11, whose mother was on board one of the New York aircraft, said: "We are a country in which we don't show public executions and that's what this boils down to."

However, a BBC spokesman said that the film was sensitive to the feelings of the bereaved.