London, Oct 6 : Peter Fincham, the controller of BBC1, has resigned after facing widespread criticism for showing misleading documentary footage of the Queen.

The incorrectly edited programme showed the Queen storming out of a photo-shoot in a “huff” while the footage was actually of her walking in.

The Telegraph said the BBC was plunged into an unprecedented crisis on Friday over the report, which cited “misjudgements, poor practice and ineffective systems” at the Corporation in relation to the five part documentary, A Year with the Queen.

The daily said that Fincham was forced to resign not because of showing wrong facts, but due to his “naïve” failure not to issue an apology immediately after it became known that the trailer was a misrepresentation of events.

That apology was delayed until the following day. Stephen Lambert, the head of the independent production company RDF, who personally edited the controversial footage, also resigned in the wake of the release of the 21-page report by Will Wyatt, a former BBC executive, which condemned his "cavalier" behaviour.

Wyatt, in his report, expressed disbelief that Fincham had been alerted to the misrepresentation at 7 p.m. on the day of the trailer launch, and that a statement of apology was agreed at 9.44 p.m., only for it not to be issued until noon the next day.

"It was agreed between the Palace press office and the BBC people - neither party aware of just how strongly the storm was brewing - that this statement should be held over until the following morning when both parties could 'check the temperature of the story'.

"Those handling the situation had by now known for two and a half hours that the BBC had put seriously misleading footage into the public domain. The footage was already running on websites, it was known to be on the front page of at least one tabloid and to be running in other national papers. The BBC had a responsibility to correct this but did not," Wyatt wrote.

The BBC reportedly told RDF that it would not work with the company again if Lambert remained in his post.

Fincham, who was at the helm of BBC1 for two years, announced his resignation “with great sadness.”

"A vital relationship – that between the BBC and the Royal Household - had been, at the very least, placed under strain, and the reputation of the BBC, already having sustained recent damage over the issue of trust, was tarnished further in the eyes of the licence fee paying public," Wyatt added.

Besides Lambert and Fincham, Jana Bennett, the BBC Vision Director, is also under pressure to resign after the Wyatt report singled her out for criticism.

Wyatt said that Bennett had displayed "a lack of curiosity in not getting to the bottom of what exactly the BBC was apologising to the Queen for.”

"The Director-General was not alerted. He should have been," Wyatt said.

The trailer showed the Queen walking into a room wearing a tiara and Order of the Garter robes. Annie Leibovitz, the photographer, said: "I think it will look better without the crown because the garter robe is so..."

The Queen replied: "Less dressy? What do you think this is?" while pointing to what she was wearing.

The programme’s autumn launch has already been cancelled, and it is likely that it may now never be broadcast. (ANI)