AHDB statement on BBC Two’s ‘Brian May: The Badgers, The Farmers and Me’

We are disappointed that despite speaking to the programme makers to share concerns about a number of inaccuracies in the preview version we had seen, Friday’s documentary was still missing key evidence that would have helped to inform viewers on the facts about bovine TB.

This week we went to some effort to highlight to the BBC the importance of including peer reviewed evidence about how the disease is spread, the positive impact of badger culling on TB in cattle herds and the effectiveness of the current 25-year eradication strategy. This was not reflected in the final edit.

Bovine TB is a complex disease, and we were pleased to see the programme highlight its impact on the mental wellbeing of farmers, as well as the devastating effect it has on animals.

We will now take some time to further reflect on the programme before considering further action.