{"id":625657,"date":"2026-09-15T20:14:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T20:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/625657\/"},"modified":"2026-09-15T20:14:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T20:14:09","slug":"stories-in-gaza-documentary-pulled-by-bbc-still-need-to-be-aired-director-says-bbc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/625657\/","title":{"rendered":"Stories in Gaza documentary pulled by BBC still need to be aired, director says | BBC"},"content":{"rendered":"

The stories told in the controversial BBC documentary Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone<\/a> still need to be aired, according to a co-director of the film, despite the \u201cserious mistake\u201d he acknowledges it made.<\/p>\n

In his first interview since the corporation pulled the programme after it emerged its then 13-year-old narrator was the son of a Hamas official, Jamie Roberts apologised for the part his independent production company, Hoyo Films, played in the controversy and said he regretted that it \u201cupset a lot of people\u201d.<\/p>\n

Speaking ahead of his new Channel 4 immigration documentary England \u2018Til I Die, the Bafta and Emmy award-winning producer said Hoyo had \u201clearned from\u201d the mistake it made and \u201cchanged to improve things\u201d by focusing on its editorial procedures to \u201cmake sure that never happens again\u201d.<\/p>\n

Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone aired last February and was narrated by a Palestinian boy called Abdullah \u2013 one of four contributors living in Gaza\u2019s so-called \u201csafe zone\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, after details of Abdullah\u2019s father\u2019s employment became public, the film was removed from BBC<\/a> iPlayer and the corporation ordered a review.<\/p>\n

That revealed last July<\/a> that the programme breached accuracy guidelines. Hoyo had not \u201cintentionally misled\u201d the BBC about Abdullah\u2019s father\u2019s position, which it believed was \u201ca civilian or technocratic position\u201d, but did not inform the corporation about it. It concluded the BBC also bore responsibility for leaving some questions unanswered.<\/p>\n

Both parties apologised and the BBC\u2019s chair, Samir Shah, described the incident as a \u201cdagger to the heart\u201d<\/a> of trust in the corporation.<\/p>\n

Roberts said: \u201cThere was an oversight of due diligence \u2026 We made the mistake. I apologise for that.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow we have people that we work with independently who are extremely experienced legally and editorially to help make sure those standards are met. We\u2019ve got support to help us do better, to make sure that doesn\u2019t happen again; we\u2019ve completely focused on our practice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roberts said the BBC was still choosing not to show the film, meaning it could not be seen in the UK: \u201cThe mistake we made was serious and we went through the [BBC] review to work on that.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the actual stories are hugely important and we stand by those \u2026 of children going through conflict \u2026 Those individuals had absolutely no bearing on the conflict and what was happening politically and that was the point of the film. So I would love for those to be told at some point, but obviously events overtook it.\u201d<\/p>\n

England \u2018Til I Die follows far-right protesters, seen here in a scene from the documentary. Photograph: Channel 4<\/p>\n

Hoyo\u2019s first major project since Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone is on another controversial subject. England \u2018Til I Die involves Roberts following anti-immigration supporters \u2013 filming protests, intimidation and violence in English towns.<\/p>\n

The programme (11 years after Roberts\u2019s film about the far right, Angry, White and Proud<\/a>) documents the rise of the anti-immigration movement from last August through the eyes of one man, Liam, who led a campaign against the housing of asylum seekers<\/a> at a former military training camp near his home town of Crowborough, East Sussex.<\/p>\n

Roberts said England \u2018Til I Die was an attempt to understand why the issue had escalated, most recently with the rise of balaclava-clad far-right protesters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He said \u201cthe police, crime commissioners and various members of senior government [are] almost in shock and surprise at how this could happen\u201d but that his film showed how far-right activists had filled the vacuum left after government decisions on housing asylum seekers were made without enough communication or support for the communities affected.<\/p>\n

Roberts said England \u2018Til I Die was an attempt to understand why the anti-immigration issue had escalated. Photograph: Channel 4<\/p>\n

Roberts said many Crowborough residents had \u201clegitimate concerns about \u2026 the fact that 600 men are being brought to the town \u2026 they\u2019re worried\u201d but \u201cthey felt no support whatsoever\u201d.<\/p>\n

So when nationalist groups such as Operation Raise the Colours<\/a> came into the town, \u201cthey were \u2026 quite vulnerable to whichever messaging was coming in\u201d.<\/p>\n

Roberts filmed the violence that subsequently erupted and \u201crobustly questioned Liam throughout to explore what he thinks; but also what the difference is between what they\u2019re saying and what they\u2019re actually doing\u201d.<\/p>\n

That included the group claiming their motivation was to protect women, but then intimidating women with opposing opinions.<\/p>\n

Roberts said: \u201cThe level of tension is extremely high and behaviour is becoming unacceptable. It\u2019s no longer people questioning and wanting to discuss grievances. It\u2019s turning into something else.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The stories told in the controversial BBC documentary Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone still need to be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":625658,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[93,61,60,270],"class_list":["post-625657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=625657"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625657\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/625658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=625657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=625657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=625657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}