BBC says use of old footage to ‘cover’ PM’s wreath blunder was production mistake

A production blunder was blamed for the mistake, however some have suggested the decision to used archival footage from 2016 was a deliberate attempt to cover up the prime minister's mistake. Photo: BBC - Credit: Archant

The BBC has apologised after using old footage of Boris Johnson laying a wreath on Remembrance Sunday rather than the most recent footage of him laying one upside down.

Slide One is Boris Johnson, yesterday, laying a wreath upside down on the Cenotaph

Slide Two is the footage BBC News are rolling with this morning - bizarrely, it's from 2016. pic.twitter.com/8BrOyA9Kyr
— Ava-Santina (@AvaSantina) November 11, 2019

Attending the Cenotaph for Remembrance day this year, party leaders put aside their campaigns to pay respects to the war dead. Boris Johnson was the first to lay a poppy wreath, but he managed to turn the wreath over meaning the handwritten message was upside down.

In BBC Breakfast’s morning programme the clip was not shown and instead footage from 2016 was used.

The programme has since apologised, saying: “This morning on the programme we incorrectly used footage from a Remembrance Day service that was not filmed yesterday.

“This was a production mistake and we apologise for the error.”

This morning on the programme we incorrectly used footage from a Remembrance Day service that was not filmed yesterday. 

This was a production mistake and we apologise for the error.
— BBC Breakfast (@BBCBreakfast) November 11, 2019

One person on Twitter replied: “Impossible to believe. The BBC filmed the Remembrance Day Service & broadcast it live yesterday. To think that anyone could believe one of the World’s preeminent broadcasters could make such basic mistake is contemptible. It’s like [Match of the Day] broadcasting LFC v MCFC 2018 game yesterday.”

However, Rob Burley, the editor of BBC’s Live Political Programmes – which includes The Andrew Marr Show, The Andrew Neil Show, and Politics Live, said: “Conspiracy theories flying about this. Truth is less exciting: a production error. My only insight from a year working on the show 10 years ago is that sometimes when a team has been up all night small errors can occur. It’s a gruelling job, an amazing team & they’ve apologised.”

Matt Bailey, however, was unimpressed by the explanation.

He said: “A production mistake… Where you mixed up yesterday’s VT with one from 2016 that you had to search for in the archives? Yes, that’s very plausible. Thank you for making it clear…”

Conspiracy theories flying about this. Truth is less exciting: a production error. My only insight from a year working on the show 10 years ago is that sometimes when a team has been up all night small errors can occur. it's a gruelling job, an amazing team & they've apologised. https://t.co/lt8ksBGfNV
— Rob Burley (@RobBurl) November 11, 2019

A spokesperson for the BBC said: “This was a production mistake and we apologise for the error.”