The BBC faces an 'impartiality row' ahead of a documentary about the culling of badgers presented by Queen guitarist Sir Brian May, rural campaigners have warned.
Sir Brian claimed his documentary, which will be broadcast on 23 August, would 'outrage' viewers and likened its revelations to the Post Office scandal.
But the Countryside Alliance has warned BBC Director-General Tim Davie that commissioning it was 'fundamentally incompatible' with the BBC's impartiality rules.
Since 2013, the government has permitted the culling of badgers across certain parts of England to curb bovine TB, with the existing policy set to end by 2026.
Friday's programme will share bovine TB discoveries and tragic stories to the public, including one farmer who lost his entire herd to this devastating disease.
It will also highlight ‘the plight of badgers’, who Sir Brian argues are being ‘scapegoated’, with hundreds of thousands culled over the years.
For decades, the Queen guitarist-turned-animal welfare campaigner has opposed the badger cull by organising marches, protests, and a petition.
Speaking about the new documentary, Sir Brian said he “came in to save the badgers”.
“I now realise that to save the badgers, you have to save everybody because it's a mess. It's a tragic human drama where people's hearts are broken.”
But in a letter to BBC's Tim Davie, the Countryside Alliance accused the broadcaster of allowing a campaigner with 'clearly partisan views' to front a current affairs programme.
Sir Brian appeared to have been commissioned "precisely because of his partisan activism and the profile he has built for himself surrounding it," wrote Tim Bonner, chief executive of the Countryside Alliance.
"The decision to do so is fundamentally incompatible with the BBC's obligation to be impartial," he added.
Aside from the crippling financial strain, bovine TB outbreaks imposed a considerable toll on the mental health of farmers, Mr Bonner explained.
"The Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution has described taking calls from farming victims of bovine TB who had experienced such crippling impacts as to drive them to contemplate suicide.
"They deserve our compassion and our support. They are ill-served by a public broadcaster that is treating them with such disregard."
‘Brian May: The Badgers, the Farmers and Me’ will broadcast on BBC Two at 9pm on Friday 23 August.
