The BBC has been plunged into a row over a ‘biased’ documentary about the culling of badgers fronted by animal rights campaigner Sir Brian May.
Sir Brian, 77, the former Queen guitarist, claimed his documentary, which will be broadcast on BBC2 on Friday, will ‘outrage’ viewers and likened its revelations to the Post Office scandal.
But countryside campaigners last night warned BBC boss Tim Davie that commissioning the film by Sir Brian, a fierce critic of badger culling who has campaigned against it for decades, is ‘fundamentally incompatible’ with BBC impartiality rules.
Tens of thousands of badgers have been killed in England since 2013 in a bid to stop them spreading TB to cattle and to eradicate the disease in the UK by 2038.
The culling is hugely controversial: wildlife campaigners claim it is ineffective and ‘inhumane’ but many farmers believe reducing the number of badgers is critical to stop their livelihoods being destroyed.
Sir Brian, 77, the former Queen guitarist, claimed his documentary, which will be broadcast on BBC2 on Friday, will ‘outrage’ viewers and likened its revelations to the Post Office scandal
Tens of thousands of badgers have been killed in England since 2013 in a bid to stop them spreading TB to cattle and to eradicate the disease in the UK by 2038
Sir Brian will argue in the documentary that badgers have been ‘scapegoated’ and will discuss his involvement in a ‘ground-breaking four year experiment to eradicate the disease, and without harming badgers’.
But in a hard-hitting letter to Tim Davie, seen by The Mail on Sunday, Tim Bonner, chief executive of the Countryside Alliance, accused the Corporation of allowing a campaigner with ‘clearly partisan views’ to front a current affairs programme.
Sir Brian appeared to have been commissioned by the BBC ‘precisely because of his partisan activism and the profile he has built for himself surrounding it,’ he wrote.
‘The decision to do so is fundamentally incompatible with the BBC’s obligation to be impartial.’
He highlighted how during a 2015 Newsnight debate on fox hunting Sir Brian branded pro-hunting campaigners ‘a bunch of lying bastards’.
Tory MP Greg Smith said: ‘Yet again the BBC is taking an incredibly biased approach to rural affairs and farming matters. This is an insult to every farmer that has had to put down entire herds because of TB.’
But countryside campaigners last night warned BBC boss Tim Davie (pictured) that commissioning the film by Sir Brian, a fierce critic of badger culling who has campaigned against it for decades, is ‘fundamentally incompatible’ with BBC impartiality rules
Tory MP Greg Smith said: ‘Yet again the BBC is taking an incredibly biased approach to rural affairs and farming matters. This is an insult to every farmer that has had to put down entire herds because of TB’
He claimed badgers are ‘livestock destroying disease carriers’ and that bovine TB cases had ‘dropped considerably’ in cull areas.
Last night Gareth Wyn Jones, a farmer in North Wales who was interviewed as part of May’s documentary, said he fears the programme will not be balanced. Seven of his cows were destroyed after TB was detected in November 2022.
‘In my belief they have got no scientific evidence. We have heard Brian May speak … he and his team really believe that all of the TB happens on the farm – it is either brought in by other cattle or there is cross contamination with the slurry. So literally blaming the farmer.’
Mr Wyn Jones, 57, a former BBC presenter, told the filmmakers that badgers are also responsible for declining numbers of hedgehogs and ground nesting birds on his farm – but he does not believe this was included in the documentary.
‘How is a rock star going to come along and save our farms?,’
Fourth generation dairy farmer Steve Evans, 45, recently made the devastating decision to sell his farm in Pembrokeshire, which has been in his family for around 100 years, after 180 of his cows, more than a third of his herd, had to be humanely slaughtered because of TB in the last year.
Last night Gareth Wyn Jones, a farmer in North Wales who was interviewed as part of May’s documentary, said he fears the programme will not be balanced
Brian May performing on ‘The Rhapsody Tour’, Detroit, USA, on Oct 10, 2023
‘It’s just a bloody catastrophe,’ he said. ‘For my own sanity, we had to stop [farming].’
He described the BBC’s decision to allow Sir Brian to host such a contentious programme as ‘short-sighted’, adding. ‘It’s an extremely one-eyed view.’
The badger cull formed a central pillar of the Conservative government’s efforts to reduce TB in cattle.
It was, however, banned by the Welsh government and Labour has also pledge to end it in England, although it will allow existing cull licences to continue until 2026.
The BBC said: ‘While this is a first person piece authored by Sir Brian May, the documentary hears from numerous voices in the debate on badger culling, including farmers.
‘The BBC adheres to strict editorial guidelines on impartiality on this matter.’
Sir Brian did not respond to requests for comment.