BRITAIN: Ofcom drawn in to BBC1 Queen footage storm.

THE head of BBC1 yesterday insisted lessons would be learned from the storm caused by erroneous footage shown of the Queen, as it emerged that the corporation was alerted to the error the day before admitting it in public.

Peter Fincham, the man who helped discover Ali G before moving to BBC1 as the flagship channel's controller, has maintained that Director-General Mark Thompson backs him.

But the BBC Trust, the body which represents licence fee payers, still has to issue its conclusions over the affair, with Mr Thompson reporting to it on Wednesday.

Media regulator Of com, which ordered the unprecedented pounds 50,000 fine against the BBC over Blue Peter, has been drawn into the new controversy, with calls for it to investigate.

The BBC says it was alerted at around 7pm on Wednesday - the day the footage was aired to journalists - that it had made a mistake, and Mr Fincham was immediately told. A scene of the monarch walking out of a photocall after being asked by celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz to remove her crown because it was "too dressy" was, in fact, the Queen walking in.

But the clips were still being shown on BBC news bulletins after 7pm and the corporation did not apologise publicly to the Queen until around noon yesterday for the misleading scenes.

By then, stories about the monarch storming off had already gone around the world.

The BBC says that it agreed the timing of yesterday's press statement, which admitted that the footage had been edited in the wrong sequence, with Buckingham Palace.

The corporation has confirmed that it would broadcast the documentary, A Year With The Queen, in full.

The programme is being made by RDF, the production company which is best-known for shows like Faking It, and Wife Swap.