House of Hancock: Nine cuts scenes after Gina Rinehart goes to court

Billionaire Gina Rinehart had the Nine Network edit out parts of its documentary House of Hancock under an out-of-court settlement before the second episode’s airing on Sunday night.

Full terms of the settlement were not disclosed. Rinehart had earlier taken Nine to court and was granted the right to see the show before the broadcast.

As part of the deal a disclaimer featuring the word “fictionalised” will run ahead of the show.

A spokesman for Ms Rinehart told Fairfax: “I can indicate that Channel Nine has agreed to excise certain scenes, and to include appropriate disclaimers.”

The station said the show would air “as per schedule”.

The settlement follows an urgent application for discovery in the supreme court on Friday by barrister Tom Blackburn.

He said Rinehart had concerns the episode contained injurious falsehoods, was defamatory, and breached consumer law.

That evening, Rinehart won the right to an early viewing of the second episode.

Justice Peter Garling said Rinehart was entitled to watch the episode as there was a real prospect the show would air statements that were not entirely accurate, or even made up.

The supreme court had to take the unusual step of sitting on a Saturday to resolve the dispute before the show aired.

The series is a dramatisation of the wealthy family’s life. On the Nine website there are links to archival material that viewers can access to compare the drama to the real events as described on TV news.

The second episode covers the legal battle between Rinehart and Rose Hancock over Lang Hancock’s estate, as well as his death. It also covers more recent events when Rinehart’s children took her to court over their inheritance.

After the first part screened the executive director of Hancock Prospecting, Tad Watroba, issued a list of alleged errors in the program, including that Hancock had insulted his daughter over her weight.

“Mr Hancock never told Mrs Rinehart that no one could ever love her, or that her husband never loved her,” Watroba said. “The scene was made up and untrue. Her relationship with Mr Frank Rinehart was very loving, and her mother Hope loved her son-in-law also.”

Beginning on the first night of TV ratings for 2015 to an audience of 1.4 million, the two-part drama has been described by Nine as “the controversial and epic true story of the Hancock dynasty”.