Studio 10 hosts blast ‘disgusting’ BBC Panorama interview with Princess Diana

Prince William did not mince his words when he said the BBC and Panorama reporter Martin Bashir had failed his late mother, Princess Diana, by using deceitful tactics to obtain an interview with her in 1995.

And the same sentiments were shared by the hosts of morning show Studio 10 on Friday, as they reflected on the Duke of Cambridge’s emotional statement.

Sarah Harris agreed with entertainment editor Angela Bishop that Britain’s public broadcaster had behaved in a ‘disgusting’ manner to secure access to Diana. 

‘I am totally with you that this was a disgusting way, particularly from the BBC,’ Harris, 39, said. 

‘A disgusting way to get an interview and manipulate someone who obviously was very vulnerable to say certain things during an interview.’

However, she noted that other factors may have contributed to Diana agreeing to the interview with Bashir – namely her husband Prince Charles’ infidelity. 

‘You could go back further and say, well, if Prince Charles hadn’t had an affair for many, many years, maybe Princess Diana wouldn’t have agreed to that interview and she wouldn’t have been in the car accident,’ Harris said.

Bishop brought the question back to BBC’s unethical conduct,  saying: ‘This is the behaviour of a public broadcaster being brought into question and the ethics of a particular journalist who has been defended for many years.’

Harris then asked Studio 10 newsreader Natasha Exelby for her thoughts, and she said: ‘I think everything Angela Bishop said is 100 per cent accurate.’

In a statement on Thursday, Prince William laid bare his ‘indescribable sadness’ that his precious final years with his mother had been marred by the isolation the historic Panorama interview caused. 

What ‘saddens’ him the most was that should a 1996 investigation into claims Diana was hoodwinked by Bashir have been conducted ‘properly’, the princess would have known she was ‘deceived’ prior to her death in 1997, he claimed.

He said the interview now held ‘no legitimacy’, had established a ‘false narrative’ for 25 years, and the BBC’s failings had let his mother, his family and the public down following Lord Dyson’s investigation in the BBC.

The inquiry found journalist Martin Bashir commissioned fake bank statements and used ‘deceitful behaviour’ in a ‘serious breach’ of the BBC’s producer guidelines to secure the interview with the Princess. 

The Duke of Cambridge read his bombshell statement to camera in a courtyard at Kensington Palace – his London residence and the home of his late mother.