Producer accuses BBC of trying to stop him talking about decision to drop programme

The producer of a film about medics in Gaza that was dropped by the BBC has accused the corporation of trying to gag him and others over its decision not to show the documentary.

- Michael Savage

Gaza: Doctors under Attack, which was finally broadcast on Channel 4 last night, recounts how hospitals in the territory have been overwhelmed, bombed and raided. Medics recount being detained and claim to have been tortured. It had originally been due to run on the BBC.

Ben de Pear, the programme's executive producer and a former Channel 4 News editor, accused the BBC of attempting to stop him talking about its "painful journey" to the screen with the use of legal gagging clauses.

"I rejected and refused to sign the double gagging clause the BBC bosses tried multiple times to get me to sign," he said in a post on LinkedIn. "Not only could we have been sued for saying the BBC refused to air the film (palpably and provably true) but also if any other company had said it, the BBC could sue us. Not only could we not tell the truth that was already stated, but neither could others. Reader, I didn't sign it."