Deborah Meaden sparks fury as Dragons' Den star slams 'sheep' BBC critics in fierce rant: 'Plugging the lefty narrative!'

The Trump documentary, which aired in October 2024, spliced two separate parts of a 2021 speech by the 79-year-old and has been deemed to have misled viewers by making it look like he was explicitly urging people to attack the US Capitol.

The incident led to the resignations of director-general Tim Davie and the CEO of News and Current Affairs, Deborah Turness.

Both took accountability for the incident in their farewell statements, and threw their full backing behind the BBC while dismissing any notion or claims of "systemic bias".

On Monday, the BBC chair, Samir Shah, apologised for the "error of judgement", but the ordeal has resulted in President Trump sending a letter to the corporation threatening a $1bn legal action.

The legal threat came after President Trump had previously celebrated Mr Davie and Ms Turness's departure, calling them "very dishonest people". The White House Press Secretary also endorsed GB News as an alternative to the "corrupt" BBC.

However, despite its critics in Washington and among licence fee payers back home, the BBC has still received its fair share of support from its backers. Now, one such supporter to emerge is business owner and investor, Ms Meaden.

The Dragons' Den star's impassioned defence of the corporation came on X, where she penned in the first of several posts: "Whatever you think of the BBC you’ve got to agree it should be our decision what happens to it…

"In my experience, they tie themselves in knots to try and get balance and integrity and mistakes (and this is a big one) are going to happen across the hours of production they broadcast."

Warning about its future amid the threat of legal action from the White House, she added: "If we let it fall to those with Political or commercial interests we will rue the day…" (sic)

Ms Meaden then continued to stick up for the BBC when replying to a number of X users who were keen to put their points across.

Sheep. https://t.co/rNoqW54gHJ

— Deborah Meaden 🇺🇦 (@DeborahMeaden) November 10, 2025

In one response to a supporter agreeing with her, Ms Meaden added: "People seem to think there is a 'the BBC'.

"There are thousands of employees making decisions all day every day.. things go wrong and this time badly… it doesn’t negate all the brilliant stuff the BBC does."

And she later reacted to a disgruntled X user who mocked the BBC as "fake news", with Ms Meaden simply replying: "Sheep."

Her fierce defence of the corporation, as well as her description of the Panorama incident as a "mistake" and her criticism of opposition as "sheep", didn't exactly go down well with many on social media, however.

GB News star Martin Daubney was among those displeased with Ms Meaden's stance. "If journalists libel Trump he sues. The evidence is manifest. But the arrogant BBC thought they were above the law. They’re not & now they too will pay the price," Martin remarked.

One X user agreed: "The BBC blatantly is biased! You being a Liberal bedwetter obviously love the fact they're left wing, right down to their grubby boots. Here's hoping Trump sues the ass off them."

A second added: "It's not a mistake though, Deborah. I can tell you from my professional experience that you don't accidentally splice two pieces of a speech, almost an hour apart, to misrepresent what a subject said. It's just not possible. It is absolutely intentional."

And a third echoed: "Nope. Not a mistake. This isn't mistakenly steeping your tea too long, dear. The BBC knew what it was doing, and this American President is just the man to call you out."

"Deborah... THESE ARE NOT MISTAKES!" a fourth fumed. "Whether it was done in-house or not, the BBC is ultimately responsible for it's content... it's the least of what we pay them for."

Meanwhile, a fifth also hit out: "You can talk about; ‘sheep’. Plugging the lefty narrative you do & also work for the BBC, shock, horror.”

However, a few of Ms Meaden's followers did jump to her defence, with one X user entering the debate to say: "Absolutely. I think some of the issue with some of the news is not applying basic sense. If it’s raining outside, you don’t need someone on saying it isn’t. Right now, the Beeb should take the gloves off and shine even more light into the shadows. It has nowt to lose by that."

And a second similarly sided with Ms Meaden: "Exactly. No massive organisation gets it right all the time, and the BBC does need to improve some management basics. But it is by far the best news organisation we have." (sic)