AHDB to file formal complaint over Brian May’s TB documentary

The AHDB is to submit a formal complaint to the BBC over Queen guitarist Brian May’s bovine TB documentary, raising concerns about factual inaccuracies and the omission of key evidence in the programme.

The levy body has concerns that the public was not presented with a clear understanding of the facts around bovine TB in the hour-long documentary, Brian May: The Badgers, the Farmers and Me.

See also: Farming groups react to Brian May’s bovine TB documentary

In a statement released after the one-off programme aired on BBC2 on Friday 23 August, the AHDB said it had gone to some effort to raise concerns with the BBC about its content, warning that a preview version it had seen was “missing key evidence that would have helped to inform viewers on the facts about bovine TB”.

The AHDB also stressed the importance of the inclusion of peer-reviewed scientific evidence, the positive impact of badger culling on TB control in cattle herds in England, and the effectiveness of the government’s 25-year eradication programme.

Sir Brian, an outspoken critic of badger culling, made claims in the programme that a ground-breaking four-year experiment at Gatcombe Farm in east Devon had eliminated bovine TB in the chronically infected dairy herd without the need to cull badgers.

For the research, Sir Brian worked with large mammal vet Dick Sibley and farmer Robert Reed to improve cattle hygiene measures and roll out the use of enhanced testing to identify TB-positive cows missed by the skin test.

Complaints 

Following complaints of “bias” from the farming industry, film makers decided to add a comment at the end of the documentary which explained that Gatcombe Farm had experienced three further TB outbreaks over the past five years, which they attributed to “historic infection in the herd”.

One-third of the badgers neighbouring the farm tested positive for bovine TB, but Sir Brian ruled this out as a possible cause of TB in the herd.

Farmers Weekly understands the AHDB’s complaint will also include concerns around this late inclusion of important details regarding TB herd breakdowns at Gatcombe Farm.

The NFU, NFU Cymru, the Countryside Alliance and the British Cattle Veterinary Association (BCVA) have also all raised concerns about the documentary’s portrayal of bovine TB and the badger cull.

The BBC has rejected claims of impartiality rule breaches in the documentary, insisting it features numerous voices in the debate on badger culling, including farmers and academics.