The actor portraying Martin Bashir in The Crown, which bears a striking resemblance, has been photographed in his role for the first-time.
Prasanna Puwanarajah, 40, was filming scenes for the Netflix drama that recreate the time of Bashir’s deceitfully arranged Panorama interview with Princess Diana in 1995.
He was wearing blue jeans, a dark leather jacket, and sunglasses similar to his journalist counterpart, Nicholas Gleaves. He also played the role of John Birt (ex-director general BBC) and Michael Jibson (ex-Panorama editor).
They were shooting scenes on a beach in Eastbourne depicting how the trio took the film of Bashir’s interview to a hotel in the East Sussex resort to secretly edit it away from the BBC’s headquarters in London.
Prasanna Puwanarajah is 40 years old and was dressed in blue jeans with a black jacket and sunglasses similar to those used by the journalist. Nicholas Gleaves played ex-director general of BBC John Birt (centre) and Michael Jibson as former Panorama editor Steve Hewlett.
Puwanarajah (left) was filming scenes for the Netflix drama that recreate the time of Bashir’s deceitfully arranged Panorama interview with Princess Diana in 1995. Martin Bashir (right), was an infamous BBC reporter.
In May an independent inquiry found Bashir had used ‘deceitful behaviour’ by producing fake documents to help secure his interview with Diana.
The footage was filmed in preparation for The Crown series 5, which will air next November.
In another scandal involving Bashir, The Mail on Sunday reported yesterday that the mother of a murdered schoolgirl whose clothes he lost has dismissed his apology for doing so as ‘utter nonsense’.
In May an independent inquiry found Bashir had used ‘deceitful behaviour’ by producing fake documents to help secure his interview with Diana (pictured)
For the ashamed journalist to finally admit his mistakes, he quit as BBC religion editor in June.
Karen Hadaway, nine, was murdered with Nicola Fellows, also nine, in Brighton in 1986 in the ‘Babes in the Wood’ killings. Bashir took the clothes from Karen’s mother in 1991, claiming he would have them analysed to help crack the long-unsolved case.
They were not returned, and he claimed he couldn’t recall any details.
It has been revealed that the BBC’s director general Tim Davie had arranged for Miss Hadaway to receive a letter from Bashir last month. In it, he said he was ‘deeply sorry’ and it was ‘a matter of deep regret’ that the loss of the clothes must have compounded her suffering.
Miss Hadaway said Bashir’s long overdue apology was ‘too little, too late’ and the family had been ‘let down by everyone’. The broadcaster is being sued by Hadaway.
Roofer Russell Bishop was ultimately convicted in 2018 of double murder.