ITV TELL THE INSIDE STORY OF THE DIANA INTERVIEW

This new two-part documentary for ITV tells the inside story of Princess Diana's 1995 interview with Martin Bashir that shocked the nation, in the process threatening the future of the monarchy and of the BBC.

Marking 25 years since Britain tuned in to watch Diana, Princess of Wales pour her heart out on national television, these two programmes hear from those who witnessed her fairytale romance with Prince Charles descend into rancour and ultimately divorce.

In the first episode, friends of the Princess speak about how what was described as the fairy tale wedding of Lady Diana Spencer to Prince Charles was in fact a mirage. The public images of happiness were superficial, and a decade of betrayal was to inspire in the Princess an anger and desire for public recognition of her private pain. 

Cameraman Tony Poole describes the dramatic way Bashir organised the interview and how his film crew was secretly smuggled into Kensington Palace. 

Penny Thornton tells the programme: "One of the most shocking things that Diana told me was that the night before the wedding Charles told her that he didn't love her... I think Charles didn’t want to go into the wedding on a false premise. He wanted to square it with her and it was devastating for Diana. She didn't want to go through with the wedding at that point, she thought about not attending the wedding."

James Colthurst says: "I remember she was becoming more and more incensed by what was going on and the fact that the whole organisation, as she saw it, was helping to support the relationship between Camilla and Prince Charles.  She would have moments of extreme anger and wanting to bash the mattress with the tennis racket and that kind of thing, and I said, 'Well, I think there are ways of lancing the abscess.'"

Jennie Bond says: "Diana told me she feared that as part of the divorce settlement she felt was coming she would be gagged. She would be prohibited from talking publicly about the marriage in any way. It was then or never."

The Diana Interview: Revenge of a Princess airs Monday 9th and Tuesday 10th November at 9pm on ITV.