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Prime Video buys UK and Ireland rights to Diana tapes series 'Diana: Her Secret Confessions'

Prime Video has acquired UK and Ireland rights to a three-part documentary built on about five hours of Princess Diana's secret 1991 recordings. It will air as 'Diana: Her Secret Confessions'; no release date has been announced.

2 outlets · 1L · 1C · 0R First reported Account updated
Image: Deadline
Image: The Independent

1 / 2

The story, neutrally told

Mixed · 2Prime Video has acquired the UK and Ireland rights to a three-part documentary series featuring previously unheard audio of Princess Diana, which it will launch as 'Diana: Her Secret Confessions'. Centre · 1The series' original title is 'Diana Unheard', under which it is being sold internationally, with Cineflix Rights handling distribution. Mixed · 2Producer Love Monday TV secured access to the full set of tapes, about five hours of audio, which Diana recorded in secret in conversation with her friend James Colthurst in 1991.

Mixed · 2The tapes were used in Andrew Morton's 1992 book 'Diana: Her True Story', and excerpts have been heard before, including in a 2017 National Geographic documentary; the producers worked with Colthurst, Morton and the book's publisher Michael O'Mara to obtain the complete recordings. Mixed · 2In the recordings Diana speaks about her relationship with her husband, now King Charles III, and his wife, now Queen Camilla, as well as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, formerly Prince Andrew, and her sons. Mixed · 2Love Monday TV's Kerene Barefield said the female-led team wants to change the narrative around Diana, arguing she is often portrayed as a victim and that the series shows her as 'a strong woman who is risking everything to take control of her own narrative'.

Left · 1No release date has been announced. The Independent places the series after Charles Spencer's book 'Swan Song: Diana, My Sister', published last month, and notes Buckingham Palace's earlier response to that book; Deadline does not mention it.

Every sentence links to the reporting it rests on. The pill in front of each says where its sources sit: Left, Centre or Right when one side supplies at least half of them, Mixed when they are evenly split. The number is how many outlets it cites.

Left1 outlet

Framing
General-audience news piece presenting the series as 'secret' tapes and placing it in the context of recent royal family controversy.
Emphasis
Diana's death at 36, the tapes' secrecy, the Spencer book and the Palace statement.
Leaves out or plays down
Does not mention Cineflix Rights or that the quotes from the producer were first given to Deadline beyond a brief attribution.
Charged language
“nabbed”“secret audio tapes”“rocked the royal family”
For example
“The series follows on from the publishing of Swan Song: Diana, My Sister by Charles Spencer last month, a book that rocked the royal family.” — The Independent

Centre1 outlet

Framing
Trade-press exclusive on the acquisition, stressing the deal, the distribution and the producers' access to the tapes.
Emphasis
Deal details, Cineflix Rights distribution, original title and the producer's mission statement.
Leaves out or plays down
Does not give a release date or mention Charles Spencer's recent book or the Palace response.
Charged language
“Swoops”“scooped”“hugely anticipated”
For example
“The hugely anticipated documentary series with unheard audio of Princess Diana is heading to Prime Video in the UK.” — Deadline

Right0 outlets

No right outlet in our sources has covered this story yet.