The inquest into the August 31, 1997, death of Diana, Princess of Wales, on Monday delivered a verdict of "unlawful killing" by way of the negligent driving of her car and the paparazzi vehicles that were in chase. Having deliberated since April 2, ultimately nine of the 11 jurors tendered the decision. (The coroner lord justice had said that a unanimous decision was not needed in this case.) According to CNN, the jury first was charged with deciding whether the French police were correct in deeming Diana's driver, Henri Paul, drunk at the time in question. The panel then was asked to ascertain whether the paparazzi in pursuit of Di's car bore a heavy responsibility for the crash and resulting deaths. In giving the jury their orders, the lord justice said there was "no evidence" that the British Secret Service nor any government agency played any role in the crash (as has at times been conspira-theorized).The proceedings began Oct. 2, 2007, delivered 240 witnesses and cost British ...
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I would have added "worst TV-movie ever" to the above teaser, but I've been around long enough to remember that sick moment of time when all three major networks made colliding Amy Fisher TV-movies.TV is currently steeped in Princess Diana memorabilia again, with news and entertainment specials pegged to the 10-year anniversary of her shocking death on Aug. 31 in 2007. Some aim high, some aim low, and I’m not going to pretend to be engaged in most of this posthumous star-gazing. But you’d think Lifetime, with its female-friendly skew, would go the respectful route.Instead, the channel has commissioned one of the most depressingly irresponsible and numbingly dull TV-movies since the genre was invented. Even worse, Lifetime is shoving it down its viewers’ throats. The icky and silly The Death of Princess Diana premieres Saturday night, when it’s easy to ignore, but will be repeated Sunday in advance of its prime-time lineup (including the first-season finale of the...
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House's Jennifer Morrison has been tapped to star in The Murder of Princess Diana, a Lifetime movie based on the Noel Botham book that theorized that Di's fatal car crash was the dirty work of a conspiracy. Morrison will play an American journalist who witnesses the tunnel crash and starts her own investigation after becoming suspicious of the "official" take on what happened. (It should be noted that a recent BBC poll found that 31 percent of British citizens believe Di's death was not an accident.)An August premiere is slated, timed to the 10th anniversary of Diana's passing.
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England's Channel 4 has declared that despite protests from the U.K.'s Conservative Party, on June 6 it will air, as planned, the documentary Diana: The Witnesses in the Tunnel — complete with explicit images from the interior of the car where the princess, as well as her friend Dodi Fayed and their driver, died a decade ago. The station says execs have "carefully and sensitively selected" the images to be shown and that in a shot of the car's occupants, the deceased have been blacked out. "We acknowledge there is great public sensitivity surrounding pictures of the victims," Channel 4 concedes in a statement, "and these have not been included."
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NBC premieres the behind-the-scenes doc Saturday Night Live in the '90s: Pop Culture Nation on May 6 at 9 pm/ET.... Responding to claims that she was wheeled into the OR Monday to get breast implants, The Hills' Heidi Montag tells Us, "What I do to my body is... no one's business but mine." To which I can only imagine the reporter replying, "Of course. Now who are you, exactly?".... Coming May 1: Dreamgirls: Showstopper Edition, a two-disc DVD (also available in Blu-ray and HD) featuring 12 extended/alternate scenes, including Jennifer Hudson's never-before-seen performance of "Effie Sing My Song".... On the late Princess of Wales' July 1 birthday, NBC and VH1 will air A Concert for Diana, featuring performances by, among others, Elton John and Duran-squared. Friday's Today's News was written by Ben Katner
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