Susan Sarandon, Mike Leigh Among 600+ Signatories of Open Letter Demanding That BBC Air Delayed Gaza Medics Documentary
Oscar winner Susan Sarandon, acclaimed filmmaker Mike Leigh and Channel 4 international editor Lindsey Hilsum are among more than 600 prominent figures who have signed an open letter urging the BBC to broadcast the delayed documentary 'Gaza: Medics Under Fire.'
The letter, addressed to BBC director-general Tim Davie, expresses 'deep concern about the censorship of Palestinian voices' and calls for the immediate release of the documentary, which follows medical workers in Gaza. The signatories include 130 anonymous participants, with more than a dozen identified as BBC staff members.
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'Gaza: Medics Under Fire' was produced by an award-winning team including Emmy and Peabody recipients Ben de Pear, Karim Shah and Ramita Navai. Originally scheduled to air in January, the documentary has been 'indefinitely delayed' despite reportedly undergoing 'rigorous editorial scrutiny' and multiple fact-checks.
'This is not editorial caution. It's political suppression,' the letter states. 'The BBC has provided no timeline, no transparency. Such decisions reinforce the systemic devaluation of Palestinian lives in our media.'
The production company, Basement Films, is quoted in the letter stating they are 'desperate for a confirmed release date in order to be able to tell the surviving doctors and medics when their stories will be told.'
Other notable signatories include actors Miriam Margolyes, Maxine Peake, and Juliet Stevenson, comedians Frankie Boyle and Alexei Sayle, and numerous journalists, filmmakers and media professionals.
The letter concludes with a direct demand: 'We demand a release date for 'Gaza: Medics Under Fire' – NOW,' arguing that 'no news organization should quietly decide behind closed doors whose stories are worth telling.'
Variety has reached out to the BBC for comment.
The controversy comes amid increased scrutiny of BBC's Gaza coverage. In February, the broadcaster faced backlash over another Gaza documentary, 'Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone,' which was pulled from its streaming platform after revelations that its teenage narrator was the son of a Hamas official. The BBC subsequently acknowledged 'serious flaws' in that production process and initiated a review, stating that 'nothing is more important than trust and transparency in our journalism.'
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