A trailer to promote the latest instalment of a popular BBC programme – The Great British Bake Off – has reportedly stopped airing because of a copyright dispute.
The show advert featured judges, including Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry, singing and dancing to an amended version of the title song from The Sound of Music, a musical made famous by the 1965 film starring Julie Andrews.
A body double was allegedly used for 80-year-old Mary Berry, while she and the show’s other stars had their voices dubbed.
However, though the song was a humorous remake of the original – with replacement lyrics including “the hills fill my heart with a love of baking” – publishers of the original track, which was written by creative duo Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, were reportedly annoyed that the song was used without permission.
The advert has since been replaced by clips that show previews of the upcoming series.
However, the BBC has denied that its decision to remove the trailer was because of a copyright dispute, stating that it was only ever meant to run for a short period prior to the new series.
A BBC spokesman added: “The BBC used the fair dealing exception for parody under the Copyright Act in relation to the trailer.
“This was a legitimate use of a copyright exception and there was no breach of copyright by the BBC.”
Under UK law, a copyright owner’s rights do not apply if another party uses their work for caricature, parody or pastiche purposes.