Controversial Diana drama defended

Producers of a controversial TV opera about the death of Diana, Princess of Wales have defended the production.

Channel 4’s 50-minute film - When She Died: Death of a Princess - features a scene in which a Diana fanatic hires a prostitute and makes her dress up as the princess to live out his fantasies.

But the programme’s makers said they were prepared for criticism arguing that the point of new art was to create a reaction.

The scene culminates in a middle class man laying down the now-naked prostitute her arms crossed in a funereal pose as he performs a "cleansing" ritual over her with water, salt and bread.

Director Rupert Edwards said: "She was the most popular pin-up in the world. It’s a ritual that went wrong - it’s his way of dealing with his grief."

He said he had no doubt composer Jonathan Dove’s opera, to be screened on Sunday at 9pm on Channel 4, would receive "some criticism".

But producer Paul Sommers defended this scene.

"His obsession is symbolic of the nation’s obsession," he told reporters after a preview at Channel 4’s offices in central London yesterday.

Filmed in May this year, the opera was designed specifically for screening on television and is scheduled to coincide with the fifth anniversary of Diana’s death at the end of the month.