Andrew Lloyd Webber has spoken out for the first time on the disagreement which saw him cancel his planned 2010 show on BBC.

Webber had planned to launch a search for Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz with the channel, but disagreements over the mention of his new musical ‘Love Never Dies’, led to the composer pulling out. He also hinted at the possibility of moving the show to ITV.

“I felt it was extremely difficult to go ahead with the BBC, who want to do The Wizard Of Oz,” the Daily Express quotes him as saying. “Last year there was a bit of criticism about the BBC using licence payers’ money to show me promoting Oliver, even though it was not my musical.

“Personally, I think it’s nonsense. The BBC has said we cannot mention Love Never Dies. If every paper is mentioning it and there’s no mention of it on the programme it looks curious.

“On ITV, it doesn’t matter as it’s not using licence payers’ money. I just want to enjoy putting the show on at this stage of my career and I don’t want the waters muddied by unnecessary negative PR.”

Here at Unreality TV, we have our own reservations about Lloyd Webber launching a show on ITV. You can check out our article on the matter here.