BBC broadcasts

Whilst Jamshedi Navroz and Shahenshahi New Year festivals have been regularly celebrated by the Zoroastrian Trust Funds of Europe (ZTFE) since 1906, this year the celebrations were made more memorable with live coverage by BBC News 24, plus a relay of an interview with Lord Karan Bilimoria by BBC Radio 4 and an interview with ZTFE president Malcolm Deboo by Hard Talk BBC Persian.

For the 10.20 a.m. transmission, BBC News 24 relayed the maachi ceremony being performed by Ervad Mazban Dastoor, offering of sukhad by worshippers and Deboo’s explanation of the significance of maachi. An hour later they showed Ervad Rustom Bhedwar and eight other mobeds performing the jashan on stage at the Zoroastrian Centre after which Deboo spoke on the import of this ceremony. The 12.20 transmission carried interviews with Benaifer Menon, Martab and Dr Subodh Kant on the subject of interfaith marriages and other challenges facing the community. The final broadcast featured the felicitation of former ZTFE president Dorab Mistry who was recently named Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE).
The same channel had also chosen to film three generations of the Printer family: Kersee and Nergish, their son Malcolm and his wife Meher with their three children Behram, Darius and Zara at their residence in Hatfield to indicate a celebration in the life of a Parsi family with chalk, sagan ni ses, tili, garlands, parbidas. Whilst Malcolm maintained that Zoroastrianism does not permit conversion, his son briefly alluded to the significance of the sudreh-kusti, and Meher expressed her hope that their children would find marriage partners from within the community.
On the same day Lord Karan Bilimoria was interviewed by BBC Radio 4 from 7.10 a.m. to 7.30 a.m. for their Sunday program whilst Hard Talk BBC Persian aired an interview with Deboo that was first aired on August 13 and repeated four times thereafter. Voice of America too was filming the celebrations for the first time.