BBC shows clip of people searching with binoculars before Madeleine McCann documentary, angering viewers

The 10-second video shows a group of people standing with binoculars searching for something in the distance

Madeleine McCann (PA)

BBC viewers reacted with anger and bemusement as a strange clip was shown before a documentary on Madeleine McCann.

The ten-second clip shows a group of people standing in a field with binoculars searching for something in the distance.

As the brief video played, a voice over is heard introducing the documentary about the search going on for Madeleine.

“Now on BBC One, the search goes on in a case like no other. Madeleine McCann, 10 years on,” the voiceover says.

One Twitter user said: “You almost have to admire the nerve (and pure comedy sass) necessary to do that.

“Or it was someone’s last day and they wanted to go out on a high, and for their name to go down in BBC legend.”

A BBC spokesperson said: "The BBC has a birdwatching ident which appears across BBC One which the public is already familiar with."

The documentary examined the police investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance.

Detectives are still pursuing leads ten years after the three-year-old went missing.