AS Sir Sean Connery prepared to mark the conclusion of another hugely successful Edinburgh International Film Festival, there was something nagging away at him.
Few people, if anyone, in the audience at the Filmhouse had a clue though about the anger brewing inside as he stepped up to make his closing speech.
But as he spoke two things soon became clear.
First, that he had been reading with some irrit
ation Sunday newspaper reports about the BBC sending an astonishing 407 staff to cover the Glastonbury Festival, and, second, that the corporation was in for a verbal roasting.
The 78-year-old screen legend didn't hold back.
The BBC, he said, were the "British Bull**** Corporation" because their claims to cover the whole of the British Isles were so hollow.
"We have more than 300 BBC technicians gone to another festival (Glastonbury) and not a single one that has come here," he told his audience.
"I think we should all do something about it."
The BBC promptly defended it's coverage of the film festival, which attracted the likes of Hollywood film director Sam Mendes, saying it had been covered well in its news bulletins.
But Sir Sean's remarks have reignited a row about the corporation's relatively sparse coverage of Edinburgh's festivals.
The BBC's Festival output is often damned in comparison to it's wall-to-wall coverage of events such as Glastonbury and the Proms.
This year the Radio One has moved it's Scott Mills drivetime show to Edinburgh – where he will be staging his own show – for the duration of the Festival, but other than that it looks like a case of the same story as previous years.
Festival organisers and politicians rounded on the corporation last year over the amount of airtime it devoted to the Fringe and International Festival.
And the Beeb's lack of greater coverage continues to be a source of simmering resentment.
Karen Koren, founder of the Gilded Balloon and one of the Fringe's best known events promoters, says the BBC, as well as other TV stations, fail to do the festivals justice.
"The Edinburgh Festival is the biggest arts festival in the world and people, including the BBC, seem to forget this," she says.
"I think it's awful that it doesn't get more coverage from the BBC and other networks, because as far as I could see Glastonbury seemed to be on everywhere and lots of hours were dedicated to it.
"Because of the sheer diversity of the festival the BBC has a duty to be covering more, getting into shows to record them – not just having cultural programmes – and informing people of what is going on in Edinburgh because otherwise no-one will ever get to know.
"For example, just taking one recording of the Tattoo shows the level of commitment."
There was widespread anger last year after BBC bosses appeared to promise to devote more time to Edinburgh, but ended up delivering a scaled-back package.
This year Scott Mills is expected to interview a series of Festival guests and review shows he and his team have seen, promoting them and Edinburgh to around 5.5 million drivetime listeners.
Yet, on the BBC's festivals website, there is no mention of Edinburgh, with far more attention paid to T in the Park, which was the subject of more than 20 BBC programmes.
That aside, the as yet incomplete schedules for August don't offer much hope to those seeking something more.
The Culture Show will broadcast three 50-minute episodes from Edinburgh throughout the Festival, while a specially recorded Artwork Special will go out on the BBC and Radio Scotland's Fred McAuley will spend a fortnight doing his show from the city.
The station will also broadcast the recordings of 12 classical concerts from the Queen's Hall.
UK-wide, Radio Three will broadcast at least 30 hours worth of classical music from the International Festival, Radio Four will produce a range of shows as part of the Festival, and Radio Five Live is expected to produce a range of news items from Edinburgh.
The BBC staunchly defended itself, with a spokeswoman saying: "As well as this there will be comprehensive coverage across television, radio and online.
"We can't confirm all the programming yet, (but] there will be topical features and news items from the Festival."
The corporation was unable to say whether it will be sending as many staff to Edinburgh as the 407 it reportedly sent to Glastonbury.
Fringe producers, though, are not holding their breath. They are considering launching their own online television channel, which could team up with the BBC and Channel 4, in order to show more viewers what the world's greatest arts extravaganza is all about.
• www.bbc.co.uk/scotland
• www.edfringe.com
• www.eif.co.uk 