Queen film row rumbles on

The head of BBC1 has rejected calls for his resignation over a film clip which appeared to show the Queen storming out of a photoshoot.

BBC1 controller Peter Fincham apologised for the blunder - which misrepresented the series of events - but stressed that the footage was not shown to the public.

He insisted there would be "no misrepresentation" by the time the documentary is broadcast.

There have been calls for an inquiry after the BBC was forced to apologise to the Queen, and the BBC Trust has demanded an explanation from the director-general of the BBC, Mark Thompson.

Mr Fincham said he took responsibility for the mistake but did not plan to stand down as controller of BBC1.

He said: "If Mark Thompson wants me to resign, I will, of course, do so. As a matter of fact, Mark Thompson has sent me a message of support in this, that he doesn't want me to resign."

He continued: "But I quite understand that people feel strongly about this - this is something that involves the Queen.

"But I would reiterate I'm here to take responsibility for it. A mistake was made down the line.

"We were supplied by an outside company with footage that, extremely regrettably, misrepresented a scene involving the Queen.

"We are obviously not very happy about that, but that is, in fact, what happened."

The row erupted when journalists who saw a trailer for a forthcoming documentary reported that the Queen had stormed out of a sitting with celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz after she asked her to remove her crown.

The footage had given the impression the Queen had abruptly halted the shoot after becoming impatient with Ms Leibovitz.

But the trailer, for BBC1 documentary A Year With The Queen, was edited out of sequence and was never intended to be seen by the public.

It was supplied by production company RDF Media and was shown at a press screening on Wednesday for BBC1's autumn schedule.

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