Guido’s cartoonist Rich Johnston was in the audience for the Have I Got News for You show recording yesterday, he reports that:
“There was some confusion about when the new Panorama investigation into the Martin Bashir interview with Princess Diana was or wasn’t being broadcast, having to talk in the past, present or future tenses, as the show was recorded the day before transmission, but Ian Hislop made one of the more nuanced analyses over Diana and the culpability of Bashir, reminding us that at the time, Diana had, without attribution, already written the book of her life with Andrew Morton, that was going to do a TV interview with someone anyway, and that she had writers prepare lines such as “there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded” – she didn’t write those herself. Bashir’s actions, basically, pushed him to the top of the queue.”
Essentially, according to Hislop, Bashir may have forged and bluffed his way into getting the interview, however what she said and the consequences that followed were of her own making, contrary to what Prince William asserted in his statement last night. Will be interesting to see if Hislop’s comments make it past the edit into the broadcast version of the BBC show tonight. Will it be a case of “We Haven’t Got News for You?”
The BBC stars who are #NotOnTheList either need to sack their agents or, more likely, are dodging scrutiny by being paid via production companies. Many Beeb programmes are produced by third party companies, which means their stars still ultimately receive licence fee payer cash while keeping their names off the rich list. Neither Ian Hislop nor Paul Merton are on there because Have I Got News For You is made by Hat Trick Productions – they are thought to receive five figures per episode. Not forgetting Hislop’s documentaries which all go towards the upkeep of the comb-dodger’s £5 million Chelsea home. The Apprentice is made by United Artists so Alan Sugar avoids being named. Graham Norton’s salary was disclosed as £900,000 yesterday – the true figure is much higher because The Graham Norton Show is made by So Television. Mary Berry and Sue Perkins from Bake Off weren’t on the list, neither was David Attenborough because he is paid via BBC Worldwide, nor was Paxo because University Challenge is made by Granada. All these companies receive vast sums from the licence fee payer, with which they pay their stars millions, yet their names are #NotOnTheList…
One of the more interesting is Screenwipe’s Charlie Brooker. His programme is made by Zeppotron, a production company co-founded by Brooker which is part of Endemol. Charlie is a director of four companies – House of Tomorrow Drama Ltd, House of Tomorrow Holdings Ltd, Black Mirror Drama Ltd and Black Mirror Drama (S4) Ltd. Zeppotron and these four companies are all registered at the London office of Endemol Shine, which is headquartered in Holland and co-owned by Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox. Puts Charlie’s Murdoch mocking and Sun-bashing into perspective.
Guido was most shocked to see Emily Maitlis #NotOnTheList. Emily is one of the Beeb’s top stars, presenting Newsnight and the news – she is rightly unimpressed and quipped at an tech industry event last night: “You’re an industry doing so well, soon you’ll be able to afford a BBC man”. Her agent tweeted:
Beyond madness and being dealt with.
— alex armitage (@Alarmingtage) July 19, 2017
If Maitlis isn’t on the list and doesn’t get paid through a production company, that means the Beeb think she’s worth less than half an Evan Davis…
Isabel Oakeshott clearly has strong views on the pious comb dodging editor of Private Eye, judging by this currently being emailed round Hat Trick Productions. Funniest thing out of their offices for a long time…
Prezza looked like he was going to punch him…
