Prince Edward nixes royal docs
Move could hurt production co. Ardent
The move follows the controversy caused when an Ardent camera crew was accused of stalking Prince William at St. Andrews University in Scotland (Daily Variety, Sept. 27).
Prince William is second in line to the British throne after Prince Charles, and the crew was gathering footage for Ardent's TV series "The A-Z of Royalty" for E! Entertainment. Due to contractual obligations, the series will still be completed.
Royalty has proven Ardent's most successful subject matter, and abandoning it could be problematic for the company, which has lost £1.7 million ($2.4 million) since it was set up seven years ago.
The promise that royalty is now a no go area will be made Monday night (Oct. 22) by Ardent chairman Malcolm Cockren in an ITV doc called "The Trouble with Edward."
Ardent producer Paul Watson was to appear in the program to claim that his crew had in actuality not been filming Prince William at St. Andrews. It is believed the palace ordered him not to participate in the show.
Cockren told Daily Variety: "The attention which Ardent Productions gets from the press is such that a decision like this becomes inevitable."
Cockren added that it is lamentable that Prince Edward cannot continue making royalty docs given that his level of expertise could be second to none. Ardent intends to now focus more on film and drama.
