Brian May has slammed pro-hunting campaigning group The Countryside Alliance after they criticised his upcoming BBC documentary, Brian May: The Badgers, The Farmers And Me.
May spent four years on the project, which explores his work in the field of bovine tuberculosis (bTB), an infectious disease that can have devastating effects on cattle populations.
The Queen guitarist took the Alliance to task after The Daily Mail reported that the organisation’s chief executive, Tim Bonner, had written to BBC boss Tim Davie and complained that May held “clearly partisan views” and that his documentary was “fundamentally incompatible with the BBC’s obligation to be impartial.”
Writing on Instagram, May said, “Hardly surprising that the Countryside Alliance want to stop you seeing our documentary – the result of 12 years research into how the disease of bovine TB is actually transmitted. The CA’s remit, of course, is to try to ensure that blood sports continue, and they represent hunters and shooters.
“These are the very people who find employment killing badgers in the Cull Zones, and they get paid a large fee per badger killed. It’s easy to see that the CA has a vested interest in making sure the badger culls continue. To date around 230,000 badgers have been slaughtered in the UK. Imagine how much money is being made here.
“We can see also that they have a vested interest in TB NOT being eradicated. So it’s no wonder that these people would prefer that you didn’t see our film. Hopefully the BBC will stand firm. The documentary is scrupulously fair and honest, and it means a lot to me that the plight of the farmers is well and sympathetically represented.”
Speaking in a video, May added, “there are people trying to stop it being transmitted at the moment, trying to block it, notably the Countryside Alliance, who’ve protested to the Daily Mail that it’s not fair and it’s not unbiased and the farmers should have the right of reply.
“Well what they probably don’t realize is that about 75% of this program is the farmer speaking, and that’s because it is a genuine collaboration and we’ve gone to great lengths to try and give everybody’s point of view.”
Brian May: The Badgers, The Farmers And Me will air Friday 23 August on BBC Two and BBC Two Wales at 9pm.