The BBC – the world’s oldest and biggest public service broadcaster – appears  to have a serious ethics problem. That’s the devastating conclusion from this  edition of The DEBRIEFER. How else could you explain the plight of bestselling  author and screenwriter M.R.  Hall, whose THE  CORONER series of books bears a striking similarity to the BBC’s a new  television series entitled – somewhat unimaginatively – THE CORONER.

Listeners to THE DEBRIEFER will be familiar with horrific accounts of  rapacious Hollywood studios “borrowing” ideas from defenceless authors. The  twist, this time, is that the allegations concern a public service  broadcaster… not a commercial entity, but an organisation that is supposed  to serve the public good. Service, not profit, is the motivator… or is supposed  to be.

Troublingly, this case is not  unique. One of our guests on Litopia After Dark, former  British ambassador Craig Murray,  believes his autobiography Murder in Samarkand was plagiarized for the  BBC comedy The Ambassador. “The production company had actually invited  me to their offices”, says Craig, “for a meeting to ask me to sell them the  rights to Murder in Samarkand. I attended the meeting but I refused to  sell them the rights. They went ahead and made the series anyway.”

This isn’t fair, it’s not cricket, and it isn’t in the spirit of public  service broadcasting. Come on, BBC – show some leadership and get your house in  order – while you still have a chance.