Stop bullying BBC over Gaza, leading director tells Labour

One of television’s most prominent directors has accused the culture secretary of trying to “bully the BBC” over its coverage of Gaza, after Lisa Nandy’s repeated attacks on its director general, Tim Davie.

- Michael Savage Media editor

Peter Kosminsky, the writer and director of the BBC drama Wolf Hall, claimed the government was acting like a “tinpot dictatorship” in heaping political pressure on Davie.

In his letter, seen by the Guardian, Kosminsky cited the “ignominious history” of political interference in the BBC. He evoked the death of Dr David Kelly, the government weapons expert, who died in 2003 shortly after being revealed as the source for a BBC story stating the government “probably knew” a claim about Iraq’s weapons capabilities was not true.

“Could I respectfully suggest that you stop trying to bully the BBC, the nation’s primary public service broadcaster, over its coverage of the war in Gaza,” wrote Kosminsky, who made a docudrama in 2005 about Kelly’s death.