A new book set to be published later this year promises to expose further details about the controversy surrounding Martin Bashir's 1995 Panorama interview with Princess Diana. Titled Dianarama: Deception, Entrapment, Cover-up: The Betrayal of Princess Diana, the book is authored by former BBC reporter Andy Webb and claims to reveal a cover-up of 'staggering proportions'.
The book has been written with the full cooperation of Charles Spencer, Diana's brother, who was shown forged bank statements by Bashir in order to gain an introduction to the princess. A 2021 inquiry found that Bashir faked documents to secure the landmark interview, in which Diana spoke candidly about her marriage breakdown and bulimia.
Webb obtained more than 3,000 internal BBC emails through a freedom of information request, totalling 10,000 pages. One email from October 2019 showed a lawyer telling a Panorama editor that the BBC was 'not releasing all of the internal investigations documents at this present time'. Webb said this amounted to a 'cover-up'.
The publisher, Penguin imprint Michael Joseph, described the book as 'a radical reappraisal of a major historical event' and a 'David versus Goliath tale' of a lone journalist holding the BBC to account. It is scheduled for release on 20 November, exactly 30 years after the interview aired.
A note from Diana in December 1995 stated she 'consented to the interview on Panorama without any undue pressure' and had 'no regrets', but the book aims to shed new light on the methods used to obtain that consent.
