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Less than a year into his role, BBC director-general Tim Davie was forced to apologise after an inquiry found that Martin Bashir, a former interviewer for the BBC programme Panorama, had lied to gain his 1995 interview with Princess Diana. Her sons Prince William and Prince Harry called Bashir’s practices unethical. Mr Davie acknowledged there had been ‘multiple serious failings’ around the interview. Huw Edwards, the corporation’s highest-paid newsreader, was suspended from the BBC on full pay after allegations that he had been inappropriately communicating with young men on social media. He was later prosecuted for possessing indecent images of children. A spokesman for the BBC said the corporation was ‘appalled’ by Edwards’ crimes and that he had ‘betrayed not just the BBC, but audiences who put their trust in him’. Mr Davie later commissioned a workplace culture review following the scandal. January 2025 The Mail on Sunday revealed that the opera singer and BBC presenter Wynne Evans made a sexualised remark, using the term ‘spit roast’ in a comment directed at Strictly Come Dancing pro Janette Manrara. He was later axed from the Strictly tour and dropped from his BBC Radio Wales show. February 2025 The BBC broadcast Gaza: How to Survive A Warzone, narrated by a Palestinian boy named Abdullah Al-Yazouri. It was later revealed that his father was a Hamas official. Mr Davie apologised, saying there had been ‘a significant failing in relation to accuracy’, and the BBC received a sanction from Ofcom. Gary Lineker left Match Of The Day. He was suspended from presenting the show after tweets criticised the government’s asylum policy in 2023, with Mr Davie then overseeing a new stance on BBC talent using social media. Then, in May this year, Lineker shared an Instagram post about Zionism that included an illustration of a rat – an image historically used as an anti-Semitic insult. Although he apologised, he later stepped down from BBC duties altogether. Bob Vylan’s performance at Glastonbury including the lead singer’s chant of ‘death, death to the IDF’ and f***ing Zionists’ caused outrage. Mr Davie apologised for the broadcast of ‘offensive and deplorable behaviour’. The BBC called the decision not to pull the livestream an ‘error of judgment’ and removed the set from on-demand viewing. The BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit found that the broadcast had breached editorial guidelines. An independent report found that 45 of 83 claims of misconduct against MasterChef present Gregg Wallace were upheld, as well as an allegation that co-host John Torode had used ‘an extremely offensive racist term’. Both presenters were dropped but the latest series was still broadcast, with Mr Davie arguing that the show was ‘much bigger than individuals’. November 2025 An internal report last week revealed that a Panorama programme, broadcast a week before the US election in 2024, ‘completely misled’ viewers by splicing together two clips of a speech by Donald Trump to make it seem like he encouraged the Capitol Hill riots. His son, Donald Trump Jr, this week accused the BBC of dishonesty and ‘fake news’.
