BBC puts controversial Cliff Richard scoop forward for industry award

Exclusive: Live coverage of raid submitted to Television Society despite possible legal action

The BBC covered the search of Cliff Richard's private estate by helicopter last year (CARL COURT/AFP/Getty Images)

The BBC has submitted its controversial live coverage of the police raid on Sir Cliff Richard’s home for a major journalism award, despite the ongoing threat of legal action from the singer.

The Corporation faced criticism over the use of a helicopter and the scale of its coverage of the raid on Sir Cliff’s £3.5m Berkshire residence last August.

No charges have been brought against Sir Cliff, who has vehemently denied an allegation of sexual abuse on a boy under 16 at a Christian rally in 1985.

The Independent has learned that the BBC has entered its coverage for Scoop of the Year at the Royal Television Society’s Television Journalism Awards, which will be handed out next month.

The South Yorkshire Police raid of Sir Cliff Richard’s £3.1m Berkshire apartment was broadcast live on the BBC (Getty Images) (Getty)

The judging panel met this week to discuss the entries. The category is intended to recognise “exclusive, original journalism in either news or current affairs by a broadcaster or agency”.

Sir Cliff, 74, is reportedly set to bring legal action against the Corporation for breach of privacy if he does not face charges over the allegations which led to the raid.

Sir Cliff’s lawyers said the live news coverage of the search “caused very serious harm” to the celebrity at a time when he had not been interviewed by the police, or arrested or charged.

Tony Hall, the BBC Director-General, faced a grilling by MPs after it emerged that the BBC had been tipped off about the raid by South Yorkshire Police, allowing the Corporation to have a helicopter in place to beam back live pictures when the raid began.

A Commons Home Affairs Select Committee report into the affair said that a BBC reporter, Dan Johnson, had threatened to break the story prematurely unless he got “inside access” to the raid. However the report called South Yorkshire Police “utterly inept” and largely absolved the BBC of criticism. The Corporation was “well within its rights” to run the story and acted properly, MPs said.

Lord Hall, who defended the BBC’s journalism throughout the inquiry which followed, said that had the South Yorkshire chief constable only picked up the phone the BBC would not have broadcast the story.

The BBC refused to comment on the award submission. A source said: “It was a good story and it was important to stand by our journalism. Notwithstanding the controversy, when we came to assess the best scoops of the year this was definitely up there.”

The BBC’s coverage irritated its news rivals. The Corporation was accused of breaching a notification agreement it has with ITN by not informing ITV News that it was using the news helicopter shared between the two organisations on the morning it covered the raid.

The police have been criticised in a raid on the luxury home of Sir Cliff Richard (PA)

Sir Cliff was on holiday in Portugal at the time and his lawyers maintain that the coverage, which some critics called a “witch hunt”, was damaging to their client.

Gideon Benaim, of the law firm Michael Simpkins, said the BBC reports led to “immeasurable harm to our client and was both premature and disproportionate”.

The BBC is keen to improve its performance at the RTS awards, presented on 18 February, after a disappointing showing last year.

ITV News won Scoop of the Year for its coverage of the Woolwich terror attack, CNN International was named news channel of the year and Channel 4 triumphed in the current affairs categories.