Gaza: Doctors Under Attack maker calls out BBC for shelving his film in Bafta acceptance speech
Gaza: Doctors Under Attack maker calls out BBC for shelving his film in Bafta acceptance speech
Carla Feric Mon, May 11, 2026 at 7:57 AM UTC
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The executive producer of Gaza: Doctors Under Attack publicly challenged the BBC during his Bafta TV awards acceptance speech, questioning whether the broadcaster would acknowledge the documentary’s win.
This comes after the BBC initially commissioned the one-off film but later shelved it over impartiality concerns, leading to its eventual broadcast by Channel 4.
The award-winning documentary features firsthand accounts from Palestinian health workers on the frontline, detailing attacks on hospitals and clinics within the territory.
Following its victory in the current affairs category at London's Royal Festival Hall on Sunday, executive producer Ben De Pear used his platform to directly criticise the BBC.
De Pear, 55, thanked the journalists who made the film, before he asked: “Finally, just a question for the BBC: given you dropped our film, will you drop us from the Bafta screening later tonight?”
The TV coverage of the awards was screened on BBC One from 7pm, with a delay of slightly more than two hours after the ceremony began.
Ben De Pear, Ramita Navai, Karim Shah, Melanie Quigley and Menna Hijazi, winners of the Current Affairs Award for Gaza: Doctors Under Attack, in the winners' room at the BAFTA TV Awards 2026 (PA)
The speech remained in the BBC’s edit when the Bafta Television Awards aired later that night, featuring in the condensed montage of awards presented earlier in the programme.
De Pear was joined on stage by journalist Ramita Navia, who said: “Israel has killed over 47,000 children and women in Gaza.
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“So far, Israel has bombed and targeted every single one of Gaza’s hospitals.
“It’s killed over 1,700 Palestinian doctors and health care workers. It has imprisoned over 400 in what the UN now calls the medicide.
“These are the findings of our investigation that the BBC paid for but refused to show.
“But we refuse to be silenced and censored. We thank Channel 4 for showing this film.
“Right now, there are over 80 Palestinian doctors and healthcare workers being held in detention centres that Israeli human rights groups describe as torture camps. We dedicate this award to them.”
Channel 4 aired Gaza: Doctors Under Attack about the plight of medics in Gaza after the BBC announced that it would not show the film following concerns it may create ‘a perception of partiality that would not meet the high standards that the public rightly expect’ (Getty Images)
The BBC commissioned Gaza: Doctors Under Attack more than a year ago from independent production company Basement Films but had delayed airing it until an ongoing review into a different programme about the region was completed.
The corporation later announced it would not show the film following concerns it may create “a perception of partiality that would not meet the high standards that the public rightly expect”.
The corporation had admitted it had paused production of Gaza: Doctors Under Attack because it felt it could not broadcast the film while a review into a separate Gaza documentary was ongoing.
The BBC also said at the time that it was “committed to covering the conflict in Gaza and has produced powerful coverage”.
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
