BBC's 'Final Cut' upsets author

Politics and TV: Michael Dobbs attacks introduction of 'Thatcher funeral' into latest Urquhart adaptation

The creator of the fictional Machiavellian prime minister Francis Urquhart, was last night embroiled in a controversy with the BBC over the adaptation of his latest book.

Michael Dobbs, a former deputy chairman of the Conservative Party, accused the BBC of using his third book to express "political opinions".

He was speaking at the Edinburgh Book Festival during a debate with fellow author Joanna Trollope on the creative control writers lose when their works are adapted for television.

The opening scene of Dobbs's The Final Cut, to be screened in November, portrays the state funeral of Baroness Thatcher, which was not in his original work. He described its inclusion as "appalling bad taste".

After the debate he said: "They have introduced a few things which have nothing to do with the book whatsoever, primarily the funeral of Margaret Thatcher.

"I find it sad they should choose my book to exercise their political opinions. I'm not here to condemn the BBC; I'm criticising them rather than condemning them."

The drama stars Ian Richardson as the scheming Tory prime minister Urquhart, whose rise to power was traced in the two previous series, House of Cards and To Play the King.

Dobbs told a festival audience last night that writers had no legal rights after their work was sold for television adaptation.

"In this case the BBC seem to have said: 'we are not going to listen, we are going to do it our way'," he said.

"It has been used as a vehicle for political opinions and very personal opinions about living people which I think is wrong."

He said he had expressed strong views over the adaptation of his work but had no quibble with the television treatment of House of Cards.

"I am not in all-out warfare with the BBC but I have just seen what is the final cut of The Final Cut and it's pretty appalling."

Apart from the state funeral sequence, Urquhart privately condemns Mrs Thatcher as a wicked and horrible woman.

Urquhart sets his sights on Mrs Thatcher's record as the longest-serving prime minister this century and while praising her in public, he privately condemns her. Dobbs maintains that none of this cynical emphasis was in the book.

A BBC spokesperson said: "Michael Dobbs has been consulted throughout the making of The Final Cut.

"Although production is still incomplete as the series is not due for transmission until late autumn, as author he will have his own views about the way the book has been transferred to the screen."