ITV's controversial docu-drama on the Marchioness disaster will not be shown unless major changes are made to it, the broadcaster's former director of drama Nick Elliott has said, write Leigh Holmwood and Tara Conlan.
Mr Elliott has caused controversy among the drama's producers and victims' families by refusing to show the £2 million film.
Speaking at the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival, Mr Elliott said there were too many creative issues that the producers had refused to change.
The drama was shown to broadcasting executives at the festival on Saturday morning in a screening that sources said ITV didn't have prior knowledge of.
"If we are broadcasting a programme about a massive issue we have to be able to say we stand by this film in every respect," Mr Elliott said, in a TV festival session after the screening.
"With Bloody Sunday I could stand by it and say it was a bloody great film. I have always had certain problems with the writing and production of this film and we do not feel that these creative issues have been resolved," he added.
"There is a section at the end of the film where two actors speak to the camera. I don't believe any drama that I am interested in ends with six minutes of preaching."
He added: "I make decisions every day that such and such thing is not going to be on the screen. I don't think at the end of Hillsborough or Bloody Sunday characters lecture us. Programmes should speak for themselves.
"I believe if we put this film out we would be attacked because I don't think it is quite good enough. It is costing us £2 million not to broadcast it. We wish it had overcome some of its creative problems but the team have shown no inclination to change it."
However, the drama's executive producer, Allen Jewhurst, said the team had done the best they could.
"I feel a great responsibility with this film," he said. "It is the hardest film I have ever done. We have a responsibility to tell the truth as ITV does to show it.
"It is a great mystery why it isn't being shown. The script was commissioned by ITV and read by ITV. It has sat on a shelf because people don't want controversy and a problem."
But Mr Elliott countered: "That is not true. We have no problem with handling difficult subjects. Please don't smear us with that."
Mr Elliot added that he would be willing to sell the drama to another broadcaster. "If we don't put it out we are very pleased if Channel 4 or the BBC want to put it out. We would sell it to anyone who wanted it."
Eileen Dallaglio, whose daughter Francesca was one of 51 who died in the 1989 disaster on the river Thames, said most of the victims' families wanted the drama to be shown.
"I have always been very clear in my participation in wanting this film shown nationally," added Ms Dallaglio, the mother of England rugby union international Lawrence. "In the interests of public safety this film had to be made. Yorkshire Television has done an excellent job in showing us what actually happened on that night."
BBC Storyville editor Nick Fraser, who was also on the panel, said he could not understand why ITV was not showing it.
"I can't see compared to most of the output of ITV you don't put this out," he added. "It is better than most of your output frankly. I think you should show it."
MediaGuardian.co.uk's Tara Conlan was at the Marchioness drama screening:
Despite years of research and work by the producers Chameleon, the end result that was shown today at the festival was just not ready for transmission.
Sadly, there was too much confusion. The audience was left wondering which characters were which as there was not enough introduction.
And it was easy to see why some of the scenes - particularly of the people trapped inside the sinking pleasure boat beating at the windows - might have caused distress to the families.
Depicting a tragedy is of course difficult but unfortunately footage of the Marchioness sinking and the CGI used recalled scenes from the film Titanic.
When the film begins, scenes involving the Bowbelle - the barge that collided with the Marchioness - are accompanied by a sinister "killer boat" kind of soundtrack.
The narrative also goes backwards and forwards. Not a problem in some dramas but in this case, because the drama is about the confusion on the Thames that night in August 1989, it needs more clarity.
For example, the film goes from showing the emergency services at 22 minutes after the disaster to showing them at nine minutes after the collision near Southwark Bridge.
Other problems include it not being clear until later in the film whether or not it is the captain or the cook who stumbles back to the Bowbelle.
The drama also features different styles. After the dramatic reconstruction, the final scenes show actors playing parents of the victims talking to camera. It isn't quite clear if they are talking as actors or as the parents.
Which is all such a shame because the drama makes some very good points.
Perhaps most importantly it highlights the fact that more than 20 of the dead had their hands cut off to assist identification - a horrific and needless move as only two of them were identified by this method.
For ITV the problem is what to do next. It has a reputation for handling difficult subjects sensitively and making good programmes about them as it showed with the Hillsborough disaster, the Harold Shipman case and the Moor Murders.
The issue is the film-makers have been talking to some of the families for some time and they have become involved in the process. They want the facts and their struggle for justice to be made known.
Yet, unless ITV can find a way of re-cutting the film and presenting it in a different way, the sad fact is it may never be shown.
