The producers of a BAFTA-winning Gaza documentary have blasted the BBC, accusing the corporation of ‘refusing’ to show the film.
Gaza: Doctors Under Attack had originally been commissioned by the Beeb – but it was shelved following ‘impartiality’ concerns.
The 65-minute documentary, billed as ‘a forensic investigation into Israeli military attacks on hospitals in Gaza’, was later shown on Channel 4 in July last year.
But producers have now claimed the BBC ‘refused’ to air the programme after paying for the investigation, adding in turn that they ‘refused to be silenced or censored’.
At the BAFTA Television Awards on Sunday night, Ramita Navai, one of the producers who worked on the documentary, spoke about the ‘medicide’ which had cost the lives of 400 doctors and said: ‘The BBC paid for the investigation but refused to show it, but we refused to be silenced and censored. We thank Channel 4 for showing this film.’
Fellow producer Ben de Pear added: ‘Right now there are over 80 Palestinian doctors being held in detention centres and Israeli human rights groups described as torture camps, we dedicate this award to them.
‘Just a question to the BBC – given that you dropped our film will you drop us from the BAFTA show later tonight? Thank you goodnight.’
Gaza: Doctors Under Attack is described by Channel 4 as ‘a forensic investigation into Israeli military attacks on hospitals in Gaza’.
Ramita Navai (centre) said the BBC ‘refused’ to show the documentary Gaza: Doctors Under Attack
Ben de Pear accepts the Current Affairs award during the 2026 BAFTA Television Awards
The programme also ‘examines allegations of the targeting and abuse of doctors and healthcare workers in Gaza’.
Directed by Karim Shah and produced by Basement Films, the documentary was awarded five stars by The Guardian, which described the ‘crucial film’ as ‘the stuff of nightmares’ but that ‘world needs to see it’.
In June last year the BBC reported that the corporation had axed the show due to ‘impartiality concerns’.
It had been scheduled for broadcast in February the same year – but was never aired.
The Beeb said at the time that it was ‘determined to report all aspects of the conflict in the Middle East impartially and fairly’.
It added that it was in the process of ‘transferring ownership of the film material to Basement Films’.
However production company hit back at the corporation, saying it was ‘relieved that the BBC will finally allow this film to be released’.
At the time Mr de Pear claimed the BBC had ‘utterly failed’, adding that journalists had been ‘stymied and silenced’.
Gaza: Doctors Under Attack was billed as ‘a forensic investigation into Israeli military attacks on hospitals’ in the city
The BBC reported that it had shelved the programme after Mr de Pear and Mr Navai had made public comments criticising the war in Gaza.
Mr Navai said during a Radio 4 appearance that Israel had ‘become a rogue state that’s committing war crimes and ethnic cleansing and mass murdering Palestinians’.
The BBC’s decision to axe the programme came after it pulled a separate documentary from iPlayer earlier the same year.
The corporation provoked fury with impartiality claims after it had been revealed the narrator of its Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone documentary was narrated by the 13-year-old son of a Hamas official.
The BBC halted production of Gaza: Doctors Under Attack while it conducted a review of Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone.
A spokesperson said last June: ‘We have come to the conclusion that broadcasting this material risked creating a perception of partiality that would not meet the high standards that the public rightly expect of the BBC.
‘Impartiality is a core principle of BBC News. It is one of the reasons that we are the world’s most trusted broadcaster.
‘Therefore, we are transferring ownership of the film material to Basement Films.
‘Contrary to some reports, since we paused production of Gaza: Doctors Under Attack in April, it has not undergone the BBC’s final pre-broadcast sign-off processes. Any film broadcast will not be a BBC film…
‘We want to thank the doctors and contributors and we are sorry we could not tell their stories. The BBC will continue to cover events in Gaza impartially.’
