16 May 2026 - 8:00am
Fran Unsworth, the former director of News and Current Affairs at the BBC, has claimed that the corporation has been captured by “progressive madness”.
Speaking to Rob Burley in UnHerd, Unsworth said that the “world went mad” concerning progressive politics during her time at the corporation, and that the BBC “went a bit mad with it”. Pointing to the broadcaster’s coverage of trans issues, she said there had been “a kind of national bullying going on in every institution in society”, adding that dissenting views were often unwelcome within the BBC.
Unsworth served as head of News and Current Affairs at the BBC from 2018 to 2022, having been at the corporation since 1980. During her time in charge of news, she was involved in the coverage of Brexit and Covid in addition to overseeing the expansion of digital news operations.
The BBC has faced repeated accusations of bias over its handling of transgender issues in recent years. A leaked internal memo claimed the corporation’s coverage had been subject to “effective censorship” by LGBT staff members, alleging that some journalists were unwilling to engage with gender-critical stories.
Asked about transgender issues at the BBC, Unsworth suggested that only one acceptable viewpoint was permitted within the organisation and that journalists felt pressure to conform to prevailing narratives. One BBC journalist, Cath Leng, supported these claims, claiming that she was “ostracised” and “forced out” of the corporation in 2023 over her gender-critical views.
The broadcaster has also come under wider scrutiny over claims of political bias. In November last year, the BBC faced fresh criticism after it emerged that a 2024 episode of Panorama had misled viewers by inaccurately portraying remarks made by US President Donald Trump during the January 6 Capitol attack in 2021. The edited clip appeared to show Trump encouraging protesters to storm the Capitol by splicing together two separate remarks from the President. The segment prompted accusations that the BBC was institutionally biased against Trump and the broader political Right. Amid the fallout Tim Davie, who was Director-General at the time, resigned.
An UnHerd investigation in 2024 found that the BBC’s Verify division showed evidence of bias in the choice of topics on which it reported. The investigation revealed that claims made by Hamas were scrutinised far less frequently than those made by the Israeli government. Additionally, it was reported that during the 2024 election, BBC Verify had characterised Reform UK’s manifesto as criticised by unnamed “experts”, without identifying who those experts were or providing direct quotations to substantiate the claim.
Further reports have found that journalists at the BBC fear being considered “racist” and that some fear tackling topics which could appear hostile to migrants. In her interview with UnHerd, Unsworth suggested that staffers applied pressure on journalists “if they felt the editorial direction of the story was not supporting their particular point of view”.
Unsworth went on to single out drama and light entertainment in the corporation, which had become the subject of a “mono perspective” and whose staff would pressure colleagues in the news department when they were dissatisfied with coverage. “I could have been cancelled by my own staff, not just on this subject,” she said of trans issues, “but on all sorts of subjects.”
Join the discussion
Join like minded readers that support our journalism by becoming a paid subscriber
To join the discussion in the comments, become a paid subscriber.
Join like minded readers that support our journalism, read unlimited articles and enjoy other subscriber-only benefits.
Subscribe