Antiques Roadshow is caught up in a major legal fight over a rare manuscript which was valued at £100,000 (AU$178,500) on the show, amid claims it was stolen.
A woman, named in UK reports as Jude Hooke, 65, appeared on the beloved program with a musical score by Sir Edward Elgar that she claims she found in her late husband’s belongings following his death.
Footage showed the moment she was told its incredible value, as she held her hand over her mouth and gasped in shock. However, it’s now claimed the manuscript – a draft score of the ‘Enigma Variations’ – wasn’t ever really hers, and was previously stolen from the Elgar Foundation.
According to The Times, the foundation has claimed it was bequeathed to them by the composer’s daughter, Carice, before being held at Elgar’s Birthplace Museum in Worcestershire. However, it’s claimed it disappeared in “mysterious circumstances” in 1994.
However, Hooke told the show: “It belonged to my late husband, who had been a lay clerk at Worcester Cathedral and had actually done quite a bit of work on some very, very early Elgar pieces. He was a music scholar.”
After filming her episode, she reportedly tried to sell the manuscript via the auctioneers Christie’s – which is when the Elgar Foundation became aware of its existence.
The publication claims the BBC were warned about the allegations it was stolen before it went to air, but still allowed the woman to claim ownership on camera.
The Elgar Foundation’s chairman, former Conservative cabinet minister David Mellor, reportedly complained to the BBC’s director general Tony Hall in a letter, seen by the news outlet. In it, he claimed Christie’s became suspicious when handed the manuscript to sell, and contacted the foundation.
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It then reportedly claimed that Hooke’s late husband, Timothy Hooke, had previously worked at the same solicitor’s firm as former vice-chairman of the Elgar Foundation, Sam Driver-White.
The letter claimed Christie’s contacted Antiques Roadshow at the end of last year to warn it that ownership was in question – but despite the warning, the show aired on July 8 with the teaser “big reveal”.
Hours before it aired, the TV show’s series producer Robert Murphy reportedly emailed a foundation member describing Hooke as the “owner”.
He is said to have added in the email that while the show’s expert Justin Croft had explained “how important and valuable a discovery it is . . . we don’t explain any issues of ownership in the programme”.
Mellor disagreed with the statement, The Times reports, and added in his letter to the BBC’s Lord Hall that “the thrill of getting a ‘scoop’ seems to have overwhelmed the judgment properly to be expected of the programme’s executives”.
Starts at 60 has contacted the Elgar foundation and the BBC for comment.