AHDB submits complaint to BBC about Brian May’s BBC Two documentary on Bovine TB

AHDB has submitted an official complaint to the BBC regarding serious concerns about the misreporting of facts in the TV documentary ‘Brian May: The Badgers, The Farmers and Me’, which aired on BBC Two on Friday, 23 August.

Having seen the documentary before it was broadcast, we spoke with the commissioning editors to raise issues regarding a lack of balance focused on four key points:

• The claim that badgers play no part in the spread of bovine TB (bTB)
• The approach shown is new
• That government policy, including culling, isn’t working
• That Brian May is the only person trying to work collaboratively in this area

We also made sure the programme-makers were aware that the farm that worked with Brian May, as part of a project to remove bTB from its herd, had unfortunately suffered three significant TB breakdowns after filming ended in 2019.

On watching the final version of the film, a number of factual issues remained, which included:

• Claims that the badger cull is ineffective and not working
• An implication that badgers do not play a role in the spread of bTB
• A claim that bTB has not declined in Devon over the past five years
• A claim that the herd at Gatcombe Farm was “rid” of bTB.

For all of these points, there is contradictory, robust evidence, which has now been shared with the BBC for their consideration.

We will update levy payers on the outcome of this complaint once we receive our response from the BBC.