Fans shocked and angry as BBC admits to faking scenes in documentary

LONDON - Fans of BBC expressed their shock and anger on social media after the broadcasting corporation admitted in a statement last week that scenes from its documentary series Human Planet were staged by the camera crew.

An episode of the television documentary Human Planet depicted the life of the Korowai people of Papua New Guinea and shot scenes of tribesmen moving into a treehouse. The BBC admitted that "the portrayal of the tribe moving into the treehouse as a real home is not accurate."

Actually, during the making of BBC's upcoming documentary series, a member of the tribe talked about how they have built high tree houses for the benefit of overseas program makers.

"Seems so natural! What is there left to trust in the world." A netizen called Ali M tweeted.

"I want a refund on my TV license ... TV programs are not as described and not fit for purpose," said netizen Sparkle Sunshine.

It's not the first time that BBC's documentary series are embroiled in a fakery scandal.

In 2011, BBC filmed shots of a tarantula spider in a studio for an episode about wildlife in the Venezuela jungle.

In the same year, Frozen Planet featured newborn polar bear cubs in a den with their mother, with many people assuming they were born and filmed in the Arctic.

However, the cubs were actually in a Dutch animal park, as revealed in behind-the-scenes footage on the show's website.

In 2015, the production crew of a documentary about life of Mongolian camel herders used a semi-domesticated wolf after being unable to find a real wild wolf to film on location.

Viewers expressed their disappointment over these scandals. "What a surprise, the BBC lying again," said another netizen, Stevehixy, on Twitter.

Human Planet was originally screened in 2011. It describes the human species and its relationship with the natural world by showing the remarkable ways humans have adapted to life in every environment on Earth.

Xinhua