The documentary Gaza: Doctors Under Attack has bagged the Bafta TV Award for Current Affairs.
After the win was announced during this year’s ceremony, its makers launched a fierce attack on the BBC for refusing to air the film it had originally commissioned.
Journalist Ramita Navai, who fronted the investigation into the experiences of Palestinian medics during the conflict, directly criticised the corporation during her acceptance speech on Sunday evening.
The BBC had dropped the Basement Films production in June 2025, citing concerns over impartiality. Channel 4 subsequently picked up the documentary and broadcast it.
Bafta TV Awards 2026: Ramita Navai hit out at the BBC
|
GETTY
Ms Navai thanked Channel 4 for showing the film, declaring: “We refused to be silenced and censored.”
During her speech at the ceremony, Ms Navai claimed that Israel had killed more than 47,000 children and women in Gaza, and that every single one of the territory’s hospitals had been bombed and targeted.
The journalist also alleged that over 1,700 Palestinian doctors and healthcare workers had been killed.
“These are the findings of our investigation that the BBC paid for but refused to show,” Ms Navai told the audience.
Bafta TV Awards 2026: Ramita Navai accepted the award from Kirsty Wark
|
BBC
The 52-year-old continued her outburst at the corporation, adding: “But we refuse to be silenced and censored.”
Ben de Pear, the executive producer of the documentary for Basement Films, then took aim at the corporation with a pointed note.
Joining Ms Navai on stage, he directly addressed the BBC regarding its coverage of the awards ceremony.
“Finally, just a question for the BBC: given you dropped our film, will you drop us from the Bafta screening later tonight?” Mr de Pear asked.
Channel 4 picked up the documentary after it was shelved by the BBC
|
REUTERS
The former Channel 4 News editor had previously been outspoken about the BBC’s handling of the documentary.
Speaking at the Sheffield Documentary Festival before the corporation’s decision was announced, he had specifically blamed then-director-general Tim Davie for refusing to air the film and accused the BBC of “utterly failing” journalists.
The BBC had originally commissioned the documentary more than a year before its eventual broadcast, but paused production in April 2025.
The corporation stated it could not air the film while a review into a separate Gaza documentary was ongoing.
Bafta TV Awards 2026: Ramita Navai
|
GETTY
Following weeks of discussions with Basement Films that ultimately broke down, the BBC concluded in June that broadcasting the material risked creating “a perception of partiality” that would fall short of public expectations.
Channel 4 subsequently acquired the documentary and aired it on July 2, 2025 at 10pm.
The broadcaster’s head of news and current affairs, Louisa Compton, described it as “meticulously reported and important” journalism examining evidence of alleged grave breaches of international law by Israeli forces.
The film is said to have undergone fact-checking to meet Channel 4’s editorial standards and the Ofcom Broadcasting Code.