Death doc sparks Beeb bias row

As the BBC prepares to screen a programme in which Sir Terry Pratchett travels to Switzerland with a man who wants to end his life, campaigners have lined up to accuse the BBC of bias reports Paul Carter

The BBC has been accused of being a “cheerleader” for assisted suicide by disability campaigners and organisations, after it was announced that the broadcaster would be screening a documentary presented by Sir Terry Pratchett featuring a man ending his life at the infamous Dignitas clinic in Switzerland.

In Terry Pratchett: Choosing To Die, due to be broadcast in June, the author, who has Alzheimer’s disease, travels to the Swiss-based clinic with a 71-year-old man with motor neurone disease, and is with him as he dies.

It will not be the first time that an assisted suicide will have been broadcast on British television – in 2008 Sky Real Lives screened Right To Die? in which Craig Ewert, who also had motor neurone disease, was featured travelling to Switzerland to die.

Campaigners against assisted suicide have criticised the BBC’s decision to screen the documentary, not just because of its content, but over concerns that the corporation is focussing too heavily on the arguments of the right to die community.

Dr Peter Saunders, Director of Care Not Killing said that the programme would be the sixth in three years on British television that supported or was sympathetic to, the issue of assisted death.

He said: “The BBC is acting like a cheerleader for legalising assisted suicide.

“It is regrettable that a man’s death will be shown on screen but we are also concerned that this documentary will not be balanced.

“Given Sir Terry Pratchett’s position, the fear is that it will show all the supposed benefits of assisted death with very little redress.”

Sir Terry himself said that he remained a “firm believer” in assisted suicide.

“I believe everybody possessed of a debilitating and incurable disease should be allowed to pick the hour of their death,” he said, adding that he wanted to find out more in case he wanted to go to Dignitas himself.

Charlotte Moore, BBC Commissioning Editor for Documentaries, said that assisted suicide was an “important topic of debate in the UK.

“This is a chance for the BBC Two audience to follow Sir Terry as he wrestles with the difficult issues that many across Britain are also faced with. I hope this sparks a constructive debate that people across the spectrum of opinion can engage in.”

Meanwhile high-profile campaigners against any change in the law on assisted suicide have written to the BBC expressing their own concern over the corporation’s editorial bias in this area.

Baroness Campbell of Surbiton, writing on behalf of campaigning group Not Dead Yet UK, and Richard Hawkes, Chief Executive of Scope (the charity which publishes Disability Now) have sent letters to BBC Director-General Mark Thompson ahead of the Sir Terry Pratchett screening.  

And speaking following the launch of a survey on assisted suicide commissioned by Scope, Richard Hawkes said: “Assisted suicide is a complex and emotional issue, and there are loud and passionate voices on both sides of the debate. But while high-profile lawyers, doctors and celebrities such as Terry Pratchett and Sir Patrick Stewart grab the headlines, the views of the thousands of ordinary disabled people who could be affected by this issue are rarely listened to.

“Disabled people are already worried about people assuming their life isn’t worth living or seeing them as a burden, and are genuinely concerned that a change in the law could increase pressure on them to end their life.”

The BBC said it did not have a stance on assisted suicide, and that a Newsnight debate on the subject would be screened after the programme.

Supporters of assisted suicide said that attempting to silence the issue was “irresponsible” and risked driving it underground.

Sarah Wootton, Chief Executive of Dignity in Dying said: “People are taking desperate and dangerous decisions at the end of their lives; travelling abroad to die or attempting to end their lives at home, often alone for fear of their loved ones facing prosecution.  

“The situation we are in now is unacceptable, which is why Dignity in Dying campaigns for a change in the law to allow terminally ill, mentally competent adults the choice of an assisted death.”