How ‘Diana Unheard’ Producers Used Never-Before-Heard Audio To Give The Princess A Voice

EXCLUSIVE: Diana Unheard is the explosive three-part documentary that features the Princess in her own words. With never-before-heard audio, the tapes cover some of the ground explored by her brother, Earl Spencer, in his recent book, ‘Swan Song’, which sparked a war of words between him and the Palace.

The producers of the three-part doc, however, told Deadline their aim was to reframe the narrative around the Princess and give her a voice, almost three decades after her tragic death.

“The media always gave us this tragedy that Diana was sad and lonely and she was manipulated,” said Kerene Barefield, Creative Director, Love Monday TV, which produces Diana Unheard. In her first interview about the doc, she added: “These tapes don’t tell that story at all. They tell a story of an incredibly brave woman who had agency and knew what she wanted and how she was going to get to it.”

Years later, the tapes speak to modern-day royal matters. There is Diana speaking about Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, formerly Prince Andrew, who was stripped of his titles last year because of his association with Jeffrey Epstein. She talks about her sons and the line of succession. There is also Diana talking about her relationship with now Queen Camilla.

Recalling one excerpt, Barefield said: “There’s a story that they’re at an event, and she confronts Camilla because she’s been downstairs with Charles for a long period of time.”

In the tapes, Diana recounts her recollection of that meeting. “She (Camilla) said, ‘You’ve got everything that you’ve ever wanted, you’ve got all the men in the world fall in love with you, and you’ve got two beautiful children. What more do you want?’ So I said, ‘I want my husband.’”

Behind The Royal Scenes

Love Monday makes shows about the British royals including Her Majesty The Queen: Behind Closed Doors for ITV, William and Harry: Love and Betrayal for Channel 5 and talk show The Royal Beat for Prime Video in the U.S. It was when author Andrew Morton appeared on the latter that the prospect of accessing the Diana tapes became a possibility.

Morton’s ‘Diana: Her True Story’ used the recordings in the headline-making book, which rocked the British establishment. The interviews were actually between Diana and her friend James Colthurst and recorded in 1991.

The book was published in 1992, but Diana’s involvement was not revealed until after her death in 1997.

“We were talking about the tapes and I asked, where are they?” Barefield recalled asking Morton. “It changed his life doing that book with Diana … I think for a long period of time, he just wanted to close them away.”

Decades later, however, the guardians of the audio tapes were willing to work with Love Monday. Morton, ‘Diana: Her True Story’ publisher Michael O’Mara, and Colthurst gave the green light to use the audio and the trio all appear in Diana Unheard.

Segments of the tapes have been aired before, notably in Nat Geo’s 2017 doc Diana: In Her Own Words, but the producers of Diana Unheard had access to all of the tapes, about five hours in all, meaning the new series has never-before-heard audio of the Princess.

The documentary’s three parts are entitled: Got To Get Out; You’re On Your Own; and Time Is Precious.

The series unpacks the subterfuge and secrecy required to record the interviews and how Diana and Colthurst were on high alert while making the recordings, Barefield explained.

“They’re talking, and then they think someone’s outside the door, listening … another time they play classical music loudly, so that people can’t hear them.

“Something I don’t think people understand at all, is that how she took agency to get this book out, and her reasons for wanting it out. But also how, when it came out, no-one could know that she had anything to do with it.”

Diana’s Voice

In a world where the narrative around Diana’s story is often argued about and decided upon by men, the producers hope having a doc series from a female-led production company shows Diana in a different light.

“One of the things I loved when I first heard the tapes was just hearing her laughter,” Barefield said. “In the middle episode, we go back to her childhood. There’s all this stuff that you wouldn’t expect and I think it shows that she had that agency and that kind of drive from a very young age.

“And then the final episode brings it all back to the book again, and you start getting this countdown to when it is going to come out, and there is this time bomb that’s ready to explode.”

As well as Morton, Colthurst and O’Mara, Diana Unheard features her lover, Major James Hewitt. “His interview is incredibly moving, because you can see how he had this division of loyalty to the Sovereign – he was a military man, and he had pledged allegiance to his country – and yet he fell in love with Diana, and for five years had a relationship with her.”

There will be strong interest from international buyers for the series with news on where it will play around the world expected soon. Cineflix Rights is distributing the doc and it is a big launch at MIPCOM next week.

Barefield said: “This is what Diana would have done if she was still alive today. That’s how we framed it. It’s her documentary.”