TV team accused of faking Castro film

YET ANOTHER television documentary was accused of faking footage yesterday when it was alleged that Carlton Television had broadcast an award-winning interview with Fidel Castro that had never really taken place.

The documentary, Inside Castro's Cuba, was made by the team that is being investigated for setting up a Colombian to smuggle drugs into Britain in The Colombian Connection.

Carlton claimed at the time of the Castro documentary being aired that its producer Marc de Beaufort had spent a "nerve-shattering year" trying to secure an interview with the Cuban leader. But a newspaper investigation has discovered that no interview took place. Instead, scenes of President Castro talking to Marc de Beaufort were archive footage supplied by the Cuban government.

Last night, Carlton's spokesman for factual programmes said that he was unable to attest to the honesty of Inside Castro's Cuba.