Gaza Documentary Makers Dare BBC to Cut Baftas Speech After Impartiality Row

The makers of Gaza: Doctors Under Attack issued a direct challenge to the BBC as they accepted their Bafta trophy on Sunday night. The documentary, which won the Current Affairs category at the TV Baftas, was originally commissioned by the BBC but later shelved over impartiality concerns. It eventually aired on Channel 4 in July.

Winners and Controversy

The film competed against Breaking Ranks: Inside Israel’s War (Exposure), The Covid Contracts: Follow the Money, and Undercover in the Police (Panorama). Doctors Under Attack is a forensic investigation into Israeli military attacks on hospitals in Gaza and allegations of abuse against healthcare workers.

Onstage Remarks

Journalist Ramita Navai, 52, said while accepting the award: 'Israel has killed over 47,000 children and women in Gaza. So far, Israel has bombed and targeted every single one of Gaza’s hospitals. It’s killed over 1,700 Palestinian doctors and healthcare workers. It has imprisoned over 400 in what the UN now calls the Medicide. These are the findings of our investigation that the BBC paid for but refused to show. But we refuse to be silenced and censored.'

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Executive producer Ben de Pear added: 'Finally, just a question for the BBC: given you dropped our film, will you drop us from the Bafta screening later tonight?'

BBC’s Statement

In a statement last June, the BBC said it was 'determined to report all aspects of the conflict in the Middle East impartially and fairly.' The decision to cut ties with the film came after Navai appeared on Radio 4’s Today programme, where he stated that Israel had 'become a rogue state that’s committing war crimes and ethnic cleansing and mass murdering Palestinians.'

Earlier that week, Ben de Pear, former editor of Channel 4 News, spoke at the Sheffield Documentary Festival. He accused the BBC of being 'racist' in its Gaza reporting and taking an 'indefensible' position for PR purposes instead of 'standing up for its journalism.' He also claimed that people within the corporation were 'ashamed' of its coverage and criticized then-Director General Tim Davie for 'taking editorial decisions, which frankly he is not capable of making.'

Indefinite Hold

Shortly after these incidents, Gaza: Doctors Under Attack was put on indefinite hold. This also coincided with an investigation into a separate documentary, Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone, which aired on BBC Two in early 2025 and was produced by Hoyo Films.

The BBC stated: 'We could not broadcast [Gaza: Doctors Under Attack] while a review into a separate Gaza documentary was ongoing. With both films coming from independent production companies, and both about Gaza, it was right to wait for any relevant findings – and put them into action – before broadcasting the film.'

They added: 'However, we wanted the doctors’ voices to be heard. Our aim was to find a way to air some of the material in our news programmes, in line with our impartiality standards, before the review was published. For some weeks, the BBC has been working with Basement Films to find a way to tell the stories of these doctors on our platforms.'

Ultimately, the BBC concluded that broadcasting the material 'risked creating a perception of partiality that would not meet the high standards that the public rightly expect of the BBC.' They clarified that any version of the film broadcast would 'not be a BBC film' and apologized to the doctors and contributors for not 'telling their stories.'