Reform pulls out of BBC documentary amid Trump legal threat
by 0 
Reform UK has pulled out of a BBC documentary about the party amid a row over the broadcaster’s misleading editing of a Donald Trump speech.
The Rise Of Reform had been due to air in January, fronted by Laura Kuenssberg, and was being made by the independent production company October Films.
An internal memo sent to all Reform MPs, councillors and other senior figures, and seen by Sky News, told party officials to stop assisting with the documentary.
A senior official wrote: “Hi all, as you will be aware October Films have been filming a documentary with Kuenssberg on the rise of Reform.
“As part of this, they have been visiting and filming at Reform councils and speaking to our councillors and council leaders across the country.
“We want to be clear that October Films have always conducted themselves professionally, and there is no suggestion from our side that they would maliciously misrepresent Reform UK. However, following the Panorama documentary the trust has been lost.”
The email continued: “If you are approached to participate, we would strongly advise you decline. If you have already participated, we would strongly advise that you contact October Films and explicitly withdraw consent for your footage to be used.”
Pic: AP
Production company ‘shocked’ over misleading edit
Meanwhile, a source close to October Films told Sky News the company was “shocked” it wasn’t told about concerns over the Panorama Trump documentary, despite an internal review at the corporation highlighting the misleading edit back in January.
October Films worked on the one-hour Panorama special, Trump: A Second Chance with a majority in-house BBC team, which included a BBC director, executive producer, editor and lawyer.
The source told Sky News: “October Films were not informed there was any question of integrity with the edit. Had they been given the opportunity, they would have insisted on the edit being changed.”
October Films – who are an Emmy and BAFTA-winning independent producer, with credits including BBC2’s Laura Kuenssberg: State of Chaos, Channel 4’s Levison Wood: Walking With…, and CNN’s First Ladies – are understood to have first learned of the misleading edit when a leaked BBC memo was published in The Telegraph.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
The Reform UK leader says he has spoken to the US president about the BBC and Donald Trump’s words are ‘not quotable’.
Sky News understands the concealed cut in the president’s speech was present in the first version of the film shown to executive producers at an early viewing, with those producers not told an edit had been made.
Despite subsequent internal viewings, and various changes and tweaks to other parts of the film ahead of sign-off by senior editorial figures, as well as the BBC’s compliance and legal teams, the clip containing the president’s spliced quotes remained intact as part of the final edit.
Sky News approached the BBC for comment and were told they had “nothing to add to the BBC Chair’s letter to CMS committee”.
In his letter, Samir Shah described the edit as an “error of judgement” and admitted it “did give the impression of a direct call for violent action”.
October Films declined to comment.
Laura Kuenssberg of the BBC interviewing David Gauke, then justice minister, in 2019. Pic: Reuters
Where was the documentary shown?
The 57-minute Panorama special – Trump: A Second Chance? – first aired on BBC One on 28 October 2024, a week before the US election.
The documentary aired in the UK and was put on iPlayer.
A shorter international version was cut, but the Capitol speech moment was not included in that cut-down version.
The film never aired in the US and couldn’t be viewed in the US on iPlayer as the content was geoblocked.
The January 6 riot at the Capitol Building. Pic: Getty
What was the misleading edit?
While the BBC say the film received “no significant audience feedback” at the time, the corporation says it has since received over 500 complaints after an internal memo detailing investigations into impartiality was leaked to The Telegraph.
The most contentious issue raised in the memo was the cutting together two parts of a long Trump speech, which he had made on 6 January 2021.
Tap here to follow Trump100 wherever you get your podcasts
This was the day of the storming of the Capitol building in Washington by Trump supporters who believed the 2020 election had been stolen by Joe Biden.
In the documentary, the clip was presented as one sentence, in which Mr Trump appeared to say: “We’re gonna walk down to the Capitol and I’ll be with you and we fight. We fight like hell and if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not gonna have a country anymore.”
In reality Mr Trump’s words, “We’re gonna walk down to the Capitol and I’ll be with you,” came around 50 minutes before he said, “and we fight. We fight like hell….” The cut had been covered by crowd shots.
The concerns about the Trump documentary edit first came to light in a leaked memo from Michael Prescott, a former journalist
When were issues over the cut first raised?
The author of the leaked memo, Michael Prescott, former adviser to the BBC’s Editorial Guidelines and Standards Board (EGSB), says he first raised concerns over impartiality after watching the documentary when it aired on the BBC.
He says his complaint led to an investigation by senior EGSC advisor David Grossman, with a report delivered in January 2025. He said this report raised the alarm over the edit of Mr Trump’s Capitol Hill speech.
Read more:
Donald Trump and his long history of lawsuits against the media
‘Mistakes cost us’ says BBC boss Tim Davie
Mr Prescott said that following the review BBC executives “refused to accept there had been a breach of standards and doubled down on its defence of Panorama”.
He says he was told at an EGSC meeting in May 2025 that it was “normal practice to edit speeches into short form clips”.
It was after this meeting in May that Mr Prescott says he wrote to the BBC chairman, Samir Shah, asking him to “take some form of action,” but “received no reply”.
Donald Trump is pictured addressing supporters on January 6, 2021. Pic: AP
What’s the fallout been and what’s next?
The misleading edit has already led to the departure of BBC director-general, Tim Davie, and the head of BBC News, Deborah Turness.
Adding to the BBC’s problems, on Monday, the corporation received a letter from Mr Trump’s lawyers, threatening to sue them for $1bn.
They have been asked to issue a “full and fair retraction” of the documentary, “apologise immediately” and “appropriately compensate” the US president.
The BBC has been given a deadline of 10pm UK time on Friday to respond.
