More, yes more, on Michael Jackson and that documentary. Jacko is now taking legal action to gain possession of the results of Bashir's filming - including a lot of unseen footage - because, he claims, the show's producer Granada promised him copyright of any footage. He wants the company to hand over all footage to an independent third party while other legal issues (Jackson has made an official complaint to TV watchdogs in the UK) are settled
In a statement Jackson's lawyers told reporters: "Consistently Michael Jackson has argued that Martin Bashir and Granada broke the agreement by which he was permitted to film Michael, concerning ownership of the filmed material and permissions relating to the inclusion of the Jackson children. In particular, Granada has failed to honour an agreement reached earlier this month to deliver up to Michael Jackson unused film footage of his children, where recognisable."
Granada, who say they have no intention of screening other Jacko footage, but that they never agreed to hand any film over, said of the legal action: "This relates to attempts by Michael to claim copyright in our footage. We shall be resisting such claims vigorously".
Bashir himself hasn't commented much on the fall out of the documentary, or on Jacko's own footage which showed the presenter praising the singer on topics on which he was critical in his eventual commentary. But in a chat on the ITV website earlier this month Bashir denied betraying Jacko, saying: "I agreed that we would make an honest film about his life".