ITV drops RDF following 'faked' Queen documentary fiasco

RDF Media said it had been informed by the commercial broadcaster that no new programmes will be commissioned "before and subject to" the publication of the independent inquiry into circumstances surrounding the furore. It is expected the investigation will report by the end of September.

The news comes on the day a top TV producer admitted that TV's "culture of deception" extends across all programmes - even the news.

David Cox, former LWT head of current affairs and now an independent producer for the BBC, ITV and Channel 4, said it "goes on all the time. We're bad boys".

RDF, which makes programmes including Wife Swap and Scrapheap Challenge, said business from ITV was expected to account for about 11 per cent of its revenues in the current financial year, which runs to the end of January.

It told the stock market today: "The directors do not consider that a pause in commissioning by ITV will have a material impact on the group's results in the current year."

The BBC has also suspended its commissioning from RDF, with the corporation accounting for about 10 per cent of its total revenues.

Trouble flared after the BBC showed journalists a trailer from the RDF programme which wrongly implied that the Queen had stormed out of a sitting with photographer Annie Leibovitz.

RDF said mistakes made by the company would not happen again and added that it was "confident" the BBC would resume working with it soon.

However, RDF shares fell 8 per cent following the statement from the firm yesterday.

Cox confessed to manipulating the truth on news reports himself, saying: "Any kind of TV, even news and current affairs, have built into them the idea of a fabrication which is justified and necessary... but it can easily shade into what becomes in some cases a lie. When the pressure is on, you've got to meet a deadline, there's this blurry border and it's easy to cross the line.""

He also dismissed BBC director-general-Mark Thompson's take on the crisis, involving faked phone-in competitions on Children in Need, Sport Relief, Comic Relief and the Liz Kershaw Show on BBC 6 Music.

Cox, whose credits include BBC2 debating series Nation, said: "This springs from something deep, not - as Mark Thompson would have you believe - that this came about suddenly... There's a culture of deception in TV since it was created."

The BBC has suspended a number of production staff from their jobs. Among those told to "step aside" from their duties is said to be the series producer of children's show TMi, Jamie Rea. The programme's executive producer, CBBC head of entertainment Joe Godwin, is not understood to have been sent home.

Mr Rea, 33, was unavailable for comment at the BBC last night.

Insiders today claimed that both men were in the studio when a member of the production team was called upon to pose as a competition winner.

One source alleged: "I've been told the series producer said the actual words, though the executive producer was there in the room - yet it's only the one guy who's facing suspension."

The BBC today refused to comment on any specific names.