Why BBC Banned Princess Diana's Full Panorama Interview

The Crown Season 5 is streaming on Netflix now, featuring a host of historically significant moments that still haunt the British royal family today.

The new series portrays Princess Diana (played by Elizabeth Debicki) preparing for her world-famous interview with the BBC's Martin Bashir, in which she made the memorable statement "there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded," in reference to Prince Charles' relationship with Camilla Parker-Bowles

It aired on November 20, 1995, and was watched by nearly 23 million people in the UK and 200 million worldwide.

Since the interview, titled An Interview with HRH The Princess of Wales, aired in 1995, it has been subject to much controversy for its content and the way journalist Martin Bashir obtained access to Diana, which was later found to be through false statements and documents.

You can watch clips of the interview on YouTube, but ultimately the BBC decided to pull the interview from being played on TV ever again and encouraged others to follow suit.

Newsweek has everything you need to know about Princes Diana's Panorama interview and what she said below.

Why BBC Banned Princess Diana's Full Panorama Interview

The BBC announced it would never broadcast An Interview with HRH The Princess of Wales ever again in July 2022.

The decision came after a 2021 inquiry by Lord Dyson found that Martin Bashir had committed "deceitful behavior" by commissioning fake bank statements and false documents, which were shown to Diana's brother Charles, Earl Spencer, in an effort to secure his interview with Diana.

The forged bank statements suggested people close to Diana, her former private secretary Patrick Jephson and another former royal household member, had been paid for spying.

Ultimately, Bashir's actions were not only immoral, but were a "serious breach" of BBC guidelines and the corporation said it fell short of the company's "high standards of integrity and transparency."

Following the inquiry, known as the Dyson Report, BBC Director-General Tim Davie said in a statement: "It is a matter of great regret that the BBC did not get to the facts in the immediate aftermath of the program when there were warning signs that the interview might have been obtained improperly. Instead, as The Duke of Cambridge himself put it, the BBC failed to ask the tough questions. Had we done our job properly Princess Diana would have known the truth during her lifetime. We let her, The Royal Family, and our audiences down.

"Now we know about the shocking way that the interview was obtained I have decided that the BBC will never show the program again; nor will we license it in whole or part to other broadcasters. It does of course remain part of the historical record and there may be occasions in the future when it will be justified for the BBC to use short extracts for journalistic purposes, but these will be few and far between and will need to be agreed at Executive Committee level and set in the full context of what we now know about the way the interview was obtained. I would urge others to exercise similar restraint."

The BBC also apologized to Earl Spencer and Diana's sons, Prince William and Prince Harry. An apology was also issued to Prince William's nanny, Mrs. Alexandra Pettifer (formerly known as Tiggy Legge-Bourke), who fell subject to false rumors following the airing of the interview.

Those rumors had allegedly been started by Bashir in order to secure an interview with Diana, according to a report in the The Telegraph.

Speaking to The Sunday Times, Martin Bashir said he "never wanted to harm" Diana, adding "I don't believe we did."

He added: "Everything we did in terms of the interview was as she wanted, from when she wanted to alert the palace, to when it was broadcast, to its contents."

On having shown her brother, Earl Spencer, forged bank statements he said: "Obviously I regret it, it was wrong. But it had no bearing on anything. It had no bearing on [Diana], it had no bearing on the interview."

Documents presented at the inquiry included a personally handwritten note by Diana in December 1995, after the interview, which said: "Martin Bashir did not show me any documents, nor give me any information that I was not previously aware of."

A BBC spokesperson told Newsweek: "As we have said before, the BBC will never show the program again; nor will we license it in whole or in part to other broadcasters—the decision to portray the interview is a matter for Netflix."

What Princess Diana Said In Her Panorama Interview

In her Panorama interview, Princess Diana shared her experience of life in the spotlight as a member of the British royal family.

She opened up about her mental health struggles, the lack of support she felt she had received from her new family, and her own and her husband's infidelity.

She shared that after giving birth to Prince William, she felt great happiness, but soon began to suffer from post-natal depression, leaving her feeling "low."

Speaking to Bashir, she said she felt unsupported by the royal family regarding her mental health, stating: "Well, it gave everybody a wonderful new label: Diana's unstable and Diana's mentally unbalanced. And unfortunately, that seems to have stuck on and off over the years."

She also revealed she began to practice self-harm and suffered from bulimia for "a number of years."

In a jaw-dropping moment, Diana spoke of her husband's affair with the married Camilla Parker Bowles, revealing she knew about their relationship and that it had triggered her bulimia.

She famously said: "Well, there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded."

Diana herself also admitted to being unfaithful to her husband. Diana and army captain James Hewitt had a five-year affair that ended in 1990. Hewitt shared his story in a tell-all memoir in 1994, deeply upsetting Diana.

She told Bashir: "Yes, I adored him. Yes, I was in love with him, but I was very let down."

When she and Charles legally separated, she told Bashir she was viewed as a "problem" and "liability" to the royal family, adding: "She [Diana] won't go quietly, that's the problem. I'll fight to the end... because I believe that I have a role to fulfill and I've got two children to bring up."

When asked about a potential divorce from Prince Charles, Diana shared she worried about the consequences for her children if they did divorce, but that she was awaiting Prince Charles' decision.

She also shared her doubts about ever becoming queen, stating: "I'd like to be a queen of people's hearts, in people's hearts, but I don't see myself being queen of this country. I don't think many people will want me to be queen."

The Crown Seasons 1 to 5 are streaming on Netflix now.

Update 11/14/22 2:46 a.m. ET: This article was updated with comment from the BBC.