BBC2 is to screen a feature-length documentary marking the 20th anniversary of the publication of The Satanic Verses and the fatwa on author Sir Salman Rushdie.
Rushdie himself declined to take part in the as-yet-untitled 90-minute film, although it is understood he is not against the programme being made and his son and sister will take part.
However, it is understood the BBC has run into some trouble among those who were involved in the original publication of the book who do not want to speak about it.
"Most of the core people involved feel very strongly even today that they should keep quiet on any matters relating to The Satanic Verses and that it was enough that the hardcover [of the book] was kept in print throughout," one publishing source said.
The film will look at the publication of The Satanic Verses and the subsequent controversy which erupted after some Muslims claimed it insulted their religion.
Iran's then supreme leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, imposed a fatwa - or religious edict - on Rushdie that prompted him to spend nearly a decade underground, appearing in public only sporadically.
Street protests and book burnings also took place across the Muslim world.
Rushdie was knighted for services to literature in June last year.
"On the 20th anniversary this 90-minute film will allow us to explore in detail and with the advantage of historical perspective this important event," said the BBC head of in-house knowledge commissioning, Emma Swain.
Swain is overseeing the film after it was originally ordered by the BBC head of independent knowledge commissioning, Richard Klein.
The film, which is being made in-house by the BBC Birmingham factual department, will be executive produced by Sam Organ.
It will air later this year to mark the 20th anniversary of the book, which was originally published in September 1988.
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