MAKERS DENY FAKING DRUGS DOCUMENTARY

Raymond Snoddy and Carol Midgley on claims over Carlton TV film

THE film-makers behind a controversial award-winning documentary on the
Colombian drugs trade yesterday denied newspaper allegations that they had
faked the programme. They are considering legal action.

Roger James, executive producer of The Connection, said last night that he
would continue to back Marc de Beaufort, the film-maker, until he saw
convincing evidence to the contrary. "Allegations of a conspiracy at
Carlton were absolute rubbish," he added.

Mr de Beaufort dismissed The Guardian's allegations, saying that he had
given full co-operation to its inquiries during the past eight months and
that its claims were based on the testimony "of a convicted drug trafficker
and a disgruntled former employee of Carlton Television". He insisted that
he stood by the integrity of his work.

The Guardian alleged that drug "mules" seen in the film had been fakes who
did not have drugs in their stomach when they came into Britain and that
the man interviewed as the number three in the Cali drugs cartel had in
fact been a retired bank cashier with low-level connections to the drug
trade. The paper also said that the journey from Colombia to London
presented as a continuous 24-hour trip was filmed in two legs six months
apart.

The Independent Television Commission and Carlton Television have launched
investigations into the claims which, if proved, could result in a heavy
fine for the broadcaster.

The irony behind The Guardian's allegations is that they were published the
day after the Independent Television Commission made some of its most
favourable comments on the quality of Carlton Television programmes. In
1993, Carlton's first year on air after ousting Thames Television from the
London weekday franchise, the commission - commercial television's
regulatory body - was scathing about the company's performance.

It said that it had been "well below expectation" and that the company's
offerings to the ITV network had been neither distinctive nor of notably
high quality.

Since then Carlton's reputation as a programme-maker has improved
considerably and on Tuesday the commission praised its high-quality
programmes and singled out its strong contributions on social action
themes.

The Connection, the documentary complained of, did not come from
inexperienced independent producers but was an in-house production from
Central, the second largest ITV company, which is owned by Carlton.

Six days before the film's transmission Mr James, its executive producer,
and Don Christopher, head of legal affairs at Carlton, had a meeting with
Adriana Quintana, the Colombian researcher on the programme. According to
those there, including a translator, she spent two hours complaining that
she had not received enough money for risking her life in making the
programme. She left a document that contained a number of allegations about
the programme-making process. But both Mr James and Mr Christopher formed
the opinion that her allegations were contradictory and motivated mainly by
money. They decided to take no further action.

Neither decided to refer the issue to senior editorial management and the
documentary went ahead as scheduled. Apart from winning prizes, the
programme was sold to 14 countries.

Mr de Beaufort said last night of the Guardian journalists involved: "I
have repeatedly invited them to interview me and view all my film's rushes
in the face of their constantly changing allegations."

The Carlton board decided to make no new statement until the second part of
The Guardian's report is published today. Nigel Walmsley, Carlton director
of broadcasting, said the company had not been able to substantiate the
newspaper's allegations but that the issues involved would be fully
investigated and the result made public.

Checked-by: jwjohnson@netmagic.net (Joel W. Johnson)