Reform UK pulls out of BBC film over Trump edit row

Reform UK has said it will no longer co-operate with a BBC documentary about the party following a row over how US President Donald Trump’s speech was edited.

The BBC commissioned an external production company, Octem Films, to produce the programme, which will be broadcast in January.

The company featured in the Panorama documentary about Trump, which sparked a huge controversy at the broadcaster, but was not responsible for the speech being edited by BBC staff.

An internal Reform email seen by BBC News said the production company had “handled the project professionally” but had advised members to refuse to take part in any further filming.

While October Films was contacted for comment, the BBC said it did not comment on projects in development.

The documentary would be called The Rise of the Reformation and would be presented by the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg.

The internal Reform email said its producers were given “unprecedented access” to senior figures in the party.

It is unclear whether the documentary will move forward without the party’s cooperation.

In the email, the Panorama edit of Trump’s speech dated January 6, 2021 is referred to as “disinformation” and as a result, it is stated that the decision was made to “suspend the relationship” with the documentary.

He continued: “We would like to make it clear that October Films have always acted in a professional manner and there is no suggestion from us that they would maliciously misrepresent Reform UK.

“But trust has been lost following the Panorama documentary and both the BBC and the production company will need to do a lot of hard work to regain that trust.”

The email advised party members to “politely decline to participate” if the documentary crew reached out and to withdraw their consent for the use of already filmed footage.

Kent County Council leader Linden Kemkaran, one of the subjects of the documentary, said in a social post that he had “revoked all permissions” to publish the footage collected over several weeks.

The BBC aired Trump: Second Chances shortly before the 2024 US presidential election. He came under intense scrutiny due to his Panorama documentary titled.

In one edit featured in the documentary, portions of a speech Trump gave on January 6, 2021 were stitched together to make it appear as if he was openly urging people to attack the US Capitol.

“We will march to the Capitol and support our brave senators, congressmen and women,” Trump said in his speech in Washington, DC.

However, in the Panorama montage, he is seen saying: “We’re going to march on the Capitol… and I’ll be there with you. And we’re fighting. We’re fighting like hell.”

The two parts of the speech were given about an hour apart; The “fight like hell” comment was taken from the episode where Trump discusses how “corrupt” the US elections are.

In total, he used the words “fight” or “fight” 20 times.

The documentary was broadcast last year but rose to prominence this month when an internal BBC memo was leaked raising concerns about the edit. Published by the Telegraph newspaper.

The note was written by Michael Prescott, external broadcast advisor to the BBC’s broadcasting standards committee. He said Panorama “distorted the events of the day” and left viewers asking: “Why should the BBC be trusted and where will this all end?”

The fallout from the memo’s discovery led to the resignation of BBC director general Tim Davie and chief news officer Deborah Turness.

Trump has threatened to sue the BBC for $1bn (£760m) unless he receives a full retraction, apology and compensation.

On Monday, BBC chief Samir Shah apologized for an “error of judgment” regarding the documentary.