The three 2025 scandals that doomed the BBC as Tim Davie resigns

It's safe to say the BBC is in complete crisis right now following the resignations of Director-General Tim Davie and BBC News CEO Deborah Turness. Their departures come in the wake of the BBC being slammed for editing a Donald Trump speech during an episode of Panorama. Three separate clips of the speech were merged together to make it seem like the US President was encouraging the Capitol Hill riot in 2021. The publicly broadcaster faced intense scrutiny, with critics claiming it strongly misled viewers.

But instead of owning up to a mistake, the BBC's response was the usual non-apology: "While we don't comment on leaked documents, when the BBC receives feedback it takes it seriously and considers it carefully." Think that's bad? Step back and look at the bigger picture. This isn't the only scandal to hit the BBC in 2025, and when you consider three major controversies from the past year alone, it's hard to call any of this shocking.

The first sign that the BBC was in trouble in 2025 came back in February, when the broadcaster set itself up to look like a propaganda tool. The hour-long film, Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone, intended to show the conflict through the eyes of the children living on the strip since the October 7 Israel attack.

The documentary also aimed to shed new light on life inside Gaza's humanitarian 'safe zone', showing four young people trying to survive the Israel-Hamas war. But who did the BBC choose to narrate the programme? A 13-year-old boy named Abdullah Al-Yazouri, who also happens to be the son of Hamas deputy minister of agriculture Dr Ayman Al-Yazouri.

If that wasn't bad enough, one of the documentary's cameramen was also reported to have previously posted messages supporting the October 7 attack, as well as videos highlighting Hamas weapons.

The identities were revealed by investigative journalist David Collier, who asked: "The two photographers followed these children around for months. They absolutely knew who he was. Did either of the producers? How did the BBC let a son of a Hamas minister walk around looking for sympathy and demonising Israel for an hour in a BBC documentary?"

Directing questions at the broadcaster, Collier pressed: "Did you pay them any money? Did you hand cash over to a family from a proscribed terrorist group? Asking for the police.... and the millions of Brits who fund you."

He raged: "The BBC is publishing Hamas propaganda. The current hierarchy at the BBC has turned a once respected state broadcaster into a propaganda outlet for a radical Islamic terror group."

The BBC faced furious criticism, with Conservative Baroness Foster claiming a "lack of accurate research resulted in an hour of propaganda and lies", while the campaign group Labour Against Antisemitism lodged a formal complaint to the broadcaster.

The BBC defended the documentary, saying it was produced in line with the broadcaster's guidelines. Can't say I'm convinced they even believed that themselves, as it was subsequently pulled from BBC iPlayer.

In October, UK media regulator Ofcom ruled that the BBC committed a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing the narrator of the documentary.

A BBC spokesperson said: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which reflects Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.

"We have apologised for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in full. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the date and wording are finalised."

The BBC held out for a few months before slipping up again, this time over its coverage of Glastonbury.

Punk rock band Bob Vylan, who go by stage names Bobby Vylan and Bobbie Vylan, ignited outrage by leading a crowd in chants of "death to the IDF" during a live BBC broadcast in the UK.

Before leading their audience in a chant, the duo shocked viewers when the screen suddenly displayed the message: "Free Palestine. The United Nations has called it a genocide. The BBC calls it a 'conflict.'"

They then urged their fans to echo them, shouting "Death to the IDF" and "Free Palestine." Frontman Bobby Vylan - real name Pascal Robinson-Foster - ended the chant with the declaration: "From the river to the sea Palestine must be, will be, free."

At the time, Avon and Somerset Police said it was investigating the remarks made by the duo during the show. But that wasn't even the worst part.

It later came to light that Davie was at the festival when Bob Vylan was performing on the West Holts stage. After being made aware of the chants, Davie said the performance should not be made available on demand.

However, the live stream remained on BBC iPlayer for a further five hours. This sparked widespread outrage and calls for Davie to resign from his position as Director-General.

He apologised, saying: "I deeply regret that such offensive and deplorable behaviour appeared on the BBC."

The BBC's broadcast of their controversial set breached editorial guidelines on harm and offence, the corporation's complaints unit ruled in September. However, it was cleared of breaching the BBC's rules on impartiality and being likely to encourage or incite crime.

You'd think BBC bosses were counting on a quiet, scandal-free second half of the year. Boy, were they mistaken.

It only took a matter of weeks for perhaps the BBC's biggest scandal of the year yet, when Gregg Wallace and John Torode were officially axed from MasterChef. The duo had fronted the popular cooking programme since 2005, but were forced to step down after a string of allegations left them no chance of returning.

An independent investigation was launched into Wallace following multiple allegations of misconduct, including inappropriate sexual language and unwanted touching. Of the 83 claims made against him, 45 were upheld.

Following the report, Wallace told PA news agency that "none of the serious allegations against me were upheld".

He added: "I challenged the remaining issue of unwanted touching but have had to accept a difference in perception, and I am deeply sorry for any distress caused. It was never intended."

A separate claim was made against his co-host Torode, who was dropped from the show just weeks later. Torode is alleged to have used a racist term so severe that Davie said he was not prepared to repeat it.

Torode, 60, claimed to have no recollection of the incident, which is said to have occurred in 2018 or 2019. The Telegraph claimed Torode was the subject of multiple allegations, but only one was substantiated.

You could maybe argue that the other controversies were genuine mistakes, but when two of your main presenters have a mountain of allegations against them, it really doesn't look good.

If this doesn't sum up just what a shambles 2025 has been for the BBC, I don't know what does. Here's hoping they can survive the final seven and a half weeks of the year, but frankly, I wouldn't bet on it.