Martin Bashir interviews Princess Diana in Kensington Palace for the television programme Panorama. Photo / Getty Images
Martin Bashir interviews Princess Diana in Kensington Palace for the television programme Panorama. Photo / Getty Images
The disgraced Panorama interview in which Diana, Princess of Wales told Martin Bashir of her belief there was a "campaign" being waged against her is to be aired again, in defiance of the Duke of Cambridge's wishes.
Clips from the 1995 interview will be included in The Princess, a new documentary film to be broadcast by Sky and NOW TV next month in the UK and in cinemas on August 4 in New Zealand.
They show the late Princess describing her marriage, how the monarchy should change, and how she believed there was a campaign being "waged against" her for her refusal to "go quietly".
It has since emerged that the interview was obtained unethically, with fabricated claims and faked "evidence" used by Bashir and his team to secure the world exclusive confessional.
The duke has asked that the discredited footage be banned from the airwaves.
Prince William (pictured as a baby here with his mother and father), has said the interview should 'never be aired again'. Photo / Getty Images
"It is my firm view that this Panorama programme holds no legitimacy and should never be aired again," the duke said in May 2021.
"It effectively established a false narrative which, for over a quarter of a century, has been commercialised by the BBC and others."
It will come just weeks after the BBC's director-general apologised again for the interview, vowing the corporation would not show the Panorama episode in full again, with only "few and far between" reasons for extracts to be used for journalistic purposes. He urged other broadcasters to "exercise similar restraint".
The BBC on Thursday distanced itself from the new film, saying it had not granted any live or outstanding licences for "any or all" of the interview to be aired.
The Princess, a documentary film created using archive footage of Diana's life, will air on Sky Documentaries and NOW from August 14 in the UK and will be available in New Zealand cinemas from August 4.
It will not provide any context to the Bashir interview, interspersing clips with contemporary news bulletins and footage of members of the public watching it in the pub and reacting afterwards.
A Sky spokeswoman said filmmakers believe it tells the story of the late princess in an "unmediated way".
"The interview will remain in the documentary," she said.
"As the film aims to tell Diana's story through archive material as it occurred, it is not influenced by the context of what we know now, about this, or any other event."
