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October 7, 2004updated 22 Nov 2022 12:12pm

Wark ignored in Holyrood party snub over tapes

By Press Gazette

BBC Two Newsnight presenter Kirsty Wark has been omitted from the VIP guest list for the ceremony in which the Queen opens the £431m Scottish parliament building at Holyrood on Saturday.

As a member of the original selection panel, she helped choose the winning design.

And her co-owned production company, Glasgow-based independent Wark Clements, was selected to produce an £800,000 television documentary – The Gathering Place – recording the Holyrood project from conception to completion.

However, Wark Clements (now called IWC since its merger with Ideal World) fell foul of the Lord Fraser inquiry when it and joint producer BBC Scotland refused to hand over the footage from the documentary.

Wark Clements and BBC Scotland refused to hand over filmed interviews with the late First Minister Donald Dewar and controversial architect Enric Miralles – claiming an undertaking had been given to interviewees that the tapes would not be shown to anyone before the documentary is broadcast.

Lord Fraser was forced to announce that his inquiry, into Holyrood’s tenfold cost increase and three-year delay in completion, could not be closed until the tapes are aired.

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IWC was barred from covering a press conference on the publication of the Lord Fraser inquiry report, and it will have to rely on BBC footage of the official opening ceremony to complete the documentary.

Wark told the Scottish Daily Mail: “I can confirm that I have not been invited. I hope they have a terrific day – one that makes Scotland proud.”

By Hamish Mackay

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

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