A planned head-to-head between Jeremy Paxman and Nigel Farage has been shelved after talks between Channel 4 and Ukip broke down.
A special programme was planned to be to broadcast after a documentary-drama imagining the first 100 days of a Ukip government after the next election. But the idea has now been dropped after Channel 4 first cancelled it, before resurrecting it with Jon Snow as the mooted interviewer – only to have Ukip refuse the second invitation.
In an email to the party, which the Guardian has seen, Channel 4’s head of news and current affairs Dorothy Byrne withdrew the original invitation extended to Farage.
The note, dated 26 January 2015, read: “I write with regret to say that we have a scheduling and availability problem for this project so now won’t be able to go ahead with it. I am so sorry. The difficulty just emerged at the weekend. I do apologise for putting you to trouble when you are so busy.”
A party spokesman said Channel 4 later returned with a second offer – this time for Farage to go up against the Channel 4 News anchor. But Ukip turned it down.
He denied claims from one source that it did so to avoid drawing attention to the documentary-drama, which is said to be “wildly anti-Ukip”.
The spokesman said it was because, by that point, Farage’s diary had filled up.
The docu-drama, Ukip: The First Hundred Days, is due to air on Channel 4 on Monday 16 February at 9pm. It imagines the first months of a fictional Ukip government from the point of view of its only female Asian MP Deepa Kaur, played by the Thick of It actor Priyanga Burford.
According to one source who asked to remain anonymous, channel executives sought to placate Ukip by offering them a right of reply in the form of the one-on-one interview.
The programme will not fall within parliament’s purdah period – the official election time, when strict Ofcom rules on political programming kick in – but executives are believed to have been keen to ensure that Nigel Farage was able to counter the negative portrayal of his party.
Speaking as the commissioning of the programme was announced last October, its executive producer Richard Bond said: “With support for Ukip growing in the polls, this is timely exploration of the effect their policies might have on Britain.”
And Channel 4’s head of documentaries Nick Mirsky said the team behind it was “known for brave and thought-provoking television”.
On Monday, a Channel 4 spokesman confirmed that “an invitation to be interviewed was offered to Nigel Farage which was not taken up”. The spokesman refused to comment further.
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