Channel 5 has been ordered to pay a couple £20,000 after broadcasting them being evicted.
Can’t Pay? We’ll Take It Away showed Shakar Ali and Shahida Aslam from east London being ‘taunted’ during the eviction by their landlord’s son as a TV crew captured the couple’s reactions.
Cameras also filmed inside the bedrooms of the couple’s two children.
Mr Ali did not give Channel 5 consent for the footage to be used on TV, which aired 36 times and was also available to watch online.
And despite Mr Ali’s questions at the time, neither enforcement officers or the film crew explained who the TV production members were or why they were there.
Mr Ali also contacted the production company after the eviction and before the programme was first shown to ask for it not to be broadcast.
The High Court ruled the pair’s privacy outweighed the broadcaster’s right to freedom of expression.
Mr Justice Arnold noted that Mr Ali “unequivocally withdrew […] consent” when he asked for the programme not to be shown, despite Channel 5’s claims he had provided it by talking to the producers and enforcement officers during the eviction.
Mr Ali had fallen behind on the rent as he recovered from a heart condition and a badly injured foot.
He said the programme “showed them at their lowest ebb…. in a state of shock and very distressed… [and] caused them significant loss of dignity”.
Channel 5 said it welcomed the judge’s comment that recognised the show was “made in good faith and in the public interest”.
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