Two top leaders at the BBC resigned on Sunday amid an escalating scandal over impartiality and bias that plunged Britain’s public broadcaster into one of its biggest crises in recent years.

BBC director general Tim Davie and his head of news, Deborah Turness, have resigned.

Turness said in a statement on Sunday night that the Panorama controversy had "reached a stage where it is causing damage to the BBC", adding: "The buck stops with me."