Panorama is a British current affairs documentary news programme broadcast on the BBC. First broadcast in 1953, it is the world's longest-running television news magazine programme.
Panorama has been presented by many well-known BBC presenters, including Richard Dimbleby, Robin Day, David Dimbleby and Jeremy Vine. , it broadcasts in peak time on BBC One, without a regular presenter. The programme also airs worldwide through the international feed of the BBC News channel in many countries, and domestically via the UK feed.
History Panorama was launched on 11 November 1953 by the BBC; it emphasises investigative journalism. Daily Mail reporter Pat Murphy was the original presenter,BBC Radio 2, Steve Wright in the Afternoon 15 January 2006, Jeremy Vine interview who lasted only one episode after accidentally broadcasting a technical mishap. Max Robertson then took over for a year. The programme originally had a magazine format and included art features.
In September 1955, when Richard Dimbleby took over as presenter, it got the subtitle Window on the World. He presented the show until his death in 1965.
His son, David Dimbleby, later presented the programme on 11 November 1974—the 21st anniversary of the show. Other past presenters include Robin Day, Ludovic Kennedy, Charles Wheeler and Jeremy Vine. On 13 December 2010, it was announced that the programme would be relaunched during the new year with no regular presenter.
International versions Panorama set an example for the German magazine series of the same name, which is produced by Norddeutscher Rundfunk, and broadcast by Das Erste. Panorama started there in 1961 and is one of the leading political magazine shows.
Theme music The original theme music was an excerpt from Pelléas et Mélisande by Sibelius, which was followed a few years later by a composition by Robert Farnon titled "Openings & Endings".<ref>[https://news.bbc.co.uk/panorama/hi/front_page/newsid_7682000/7682434.stm Panorama'''s theme tune BBC website 10 Dec 2008]</ref> From 1968, an extract from Rachmaninov's Symphony No.1 in D Minor, 4th Movement was used, followed in 1971 by an adaptation of Francis Lai's ("Today It's You"). The latest version was arranged in 2023 by Bojan Andic.
Team Editors David Webster (1967-1969) Glenwyn Benson (1992-1995) Rachel Jupp (September 2016-December 2020)
Presenters
Patrick Murphy (1953) Max Robertson (1953–1954) Richard Dimbleby (1955–1965) Robin Day (1966–2000) Alastair Burnet (1972–1974) David Dimbleby (1974–1982) Robert Kee (1982–2013) Jeremy Vine (January 2007 – 2010) no regular presenter (since December 2010)
Investigators
Hilary Andersson Richard Bilton Jane Corbin Alys Harte Tom Heap John Humphrys Andrew Jennings Shelley Jofre Paul Kenyon David Lomax Gerry Northam Monika Plaha Samantha Poling Chris Rogers Raphael Rowe George Edwin Scott John Sweeney Peter Taylor Jeremy Vine Nick Wallis John Ware Vivian White Benjamin Zand
Notable programmes
Mescaline
In 1955, Panorama filmed Christopher Mayhew taking mescaline under medical supervision. The resulting programme was never broadcast, though the footage and transcripts were later released.
Spaghetti treePanorama broadcast a famous hoax film about the harvesting of the spaghetti crop on April Fool's Day, 1957, saying that it could be grown in viewers gardens. Many people watching believed this, possibly due to the fact pasta was not widely eaten in the United Kingdom at the time. When viewers called the BBC the following day to ask how they could grow spaghetti themselves, the BBC told them to "place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best".
Salvador Dalí
Broadcast on 4 May 1955, Malcolm Muggeridge talked with Salvador Dalí, the Spanish surrealist artist.
Maggie's Militant Tendency In January 1984, Panorama broadcast an episode which claimed that three Conservative MPs (Neil Hamilton, Harvey Proctor and Gerald Howarth) had links to far-right organisations both in Britain and on the continent.Charles Moore, Margaret Thatcher, Volume Two: Everything She Wants (London: Allen Lane, 2015), p. 532.
The programme was based on an internal Conservative Party report compiled by Phil Pedley, Chairman of the Young Conservatives. Panorama confirmed its status with a senior Conservative Party vice chairman. The report was formally presented to the party in the week before the programme was aired. During the making of the programme, attempts to contact some of the named MPs for comment were unsuccessful. (Hamilton's wife Christine later described how "Neil and I had devised a method for making sure that Panorama personnel would not be in a position to say that Neil had refused to speak".)Richard Lindley 'Panorama' Politico's 2002 p.254. The programme was vetted prior to transmission by the BBC's lawyers, by the head of currents affairs television, and by the chief assistant to the director general, Margaret Douglas.
Two of the MPs named in the programme (Hamilton and Howarth) sued the BBC and the programme-makers. The director-general, Alasdair Milne, reviewed the BBC's own legal advice, and that of his chief assistant, and declared the programme to be "rock solid". The board of governors also gave their backing for the programme to be defended in court. Stuart Young died in August 1986, two months before the libel case against Panorama came to trial. A new chairman, Marmaduke Hussey, had been appointed but had not formally arrived at the BBC when the trial opened on 13 October 1986. Hussey nevertheless spoke with the BBC's barrister, Charles Grey. Hussey says in his memoirs that "Grey thought it unlikely the BBC would win". Sir Charles Grey disputes this statement, saying that "my junior and I both thought the case was winnable".
The first four days of the trial were given over to opening statements from Hamilton and Howarth and their lawyers, which received wide press coverage. On the evening of the fourth day the BBC's assistant director general Alan Protheroe informed the BBC's legal team and the named defendants that the governors now wished to settle the case immediately. This prevented the BBC's defence from being put to the court, or known to the public.Richard Lindley 'Panorama' Politico's 2002 p.255.
Hamilton and Howarth were each awarded £25,000 in damages. Costs amounted to £240,000. They dropped their case against Phil Pedley.
There was controversy over the editing of the programme: it juxtaposed shots of Howarth wearing a train driver's uniform at a steam railway enthusiasts' rally with the claim that he had attended a fascist meeting in Italy, suggesting that the uniform he was wearing was a fascist one.Charles Moore, Margaret Thatcher, Volume Two: Everything She Wants (London: Allen Lane, 2015), p. 533.
Diana, Princess of Wales interview
Arguably the best-known Panorama programme is the 1995 interview of Diana, Princess of Wales by Martin Bashir. Conducted following Diana's separation from Charles, Prince of Wales, the interview openly discussed the rumours about her personal life. Its filming and planning was subject to extreme secrecy, with Richard Ayre, the controller of editorial policy, authorising a series of clandestine meetings between Bashir and Diana.
A quarter-century later, it was revealed that Bashir had used journalistically unethical practices in gaining the interview. In late 2020, the BBC director general Tim Davie apologised to Earl Spencer, Diana's brother, for the use of highly dubious methods. The Earl, who had introduced Diana and Bashir, rejected the apology and demanded an inquiry. Former Justice of the Supreme Court John Dyson, Lord Dyson conducted an independent inquiry into the issue. Dyson's inquiry found Bashir guilty of deceit and breaching BBC editorial conduct to obtain the interview.
Omagh bombing One of the most controversial broadcasts of recent time was the "Who bombed Omagh?" programme, which named those suspected of involvement in the Omagh bombing. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Alan Fry of Scotland Yard's anti-terrorist unit SO13 said that the Real IRA attack on the BBC Television Centre could have been a revenge attack for the broadcast.
Scientology In 1987, the Panorama programme "Scientology: The Road to Total Freedom?" for the first time exposed on broadcast television the secret upper-level doctrines of the Church of Scientology, and featured an animated retelling of the Xenu incident of Scientology doctrine.
On 14 May 2007, an episode titled "Scientology and Me" was broadcast. The journalist John Sweeney presented the edition, showing how the Church reacted to his journalistic investigations, including its reaction when he stated to members that some people describe the organisation as a "cult". At one point during an interview, the presenter lost his temper with the Church's international spokesman; an edited portion of this incident was released subsequently by the Church on YouTube and DVD in an attempt to publicise it and raise controversy. However, the 2007 Scientology episode was Panoramas greatest audience since it moved to Monday evening.
A follow-up programme, "The Secrets of Scientology", was broadcast on 28 September 2010, presenting proof that the Church had harassed Sweeney during the making of the earlier documentary, with the specific intention of making him react in the way he eventually did. The episode also included numerous interviews with former high-ranking members of the organisation who had been subject to harassment.John Sweeney revisits the Church of Scientology BBC News, 26 September 2010
Panorama and Seroxat Since 2002, Panorama has made four programmes about the anti-depressant Seroxat (paroxetine / Paxil): "The Secrets of Seroxat" (2002); "Seroxat: Emails from the Edge" (2003); "Taken on Trust" (2004) and "Secrets of the Drug Trials" (2007).
"The Secrets of Seroxat" elicited a record response from the public as 65,000 people telephoned the BBC helpline and 1,300 people emailed Panorama directly.
The major mental health charity Mind collaborated with Panorama in a survey of those who emailed the programme. Anonymous findings from the 239 responses were sent to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
The second Panorama programme on Seroxat, "Emails from the Edge", included a report of the survey to which the 239 people responded. It showed widespread experiences of suicidal feelings and other severe reactions, very bad withdrawal symptoms and lack of warnings from doctors. After the broadcast users/survivors and Mind protested outside the offices of the MHRA.
On 29 January 2007, the fourth documentary of the series about the drug Seroxat was broadcast. It focused on three GlaxoSmithKline paediatric clinical trials on depressed children and adolescents. Data from the trials show that Seroxat could not be proven to work for teenagers. Not only that, but also one clinical trial indicated that they were six times more likely to become suicidal after taking it. In the programme, Panorama revealed the secret trail of internal emails which show how GlaxoSmithKline manipulated the results of the trials for its own commercial gain. Access to the documents has been gained as GlaxoSmithKline fights a fraud trial in the US.
Some of these previously secret Glaxo documents featured in the programme were leaked into the internet after the programme's broadcast.
Undercover: Football's Dirty Secrets
On 19 September 2006 Panorama showed a documentary called "Undercover: Football's Dirty Secrets", which alleged payments in English football contrary to the rules of the Football Association, involving: