Lisa Wilkinson wanted her The Project interview with Brittany Higgins re-edited so she looked more sympathetic – as it’s revealed she was stopped from giving it to husband Peter FitzSimons’ newspaper as an exclusive

Lisa Wilkinson had TV chefs re-edit her The Project interview with Brittany Higgins to make her look more caring and sympathetic, new court documents reveal.

The newly released files also reveal that she almost ruined her own exclusivity by leaking a copy of the full script to the Sydney Morning Herald hours before the show aired.

Her bosses only intervened after producer Laura Binnie sent an email asking whether the blockbuster script would be sent to Wilkinson’s husband, SMH columnist Peter FitzSimons, or someone else from the newspaper.

She said she had the transcript bundled and ready to send after removing all notes and edits, but added: “I don’t know who to send this to, though.

“Is it Peter FitzSimons?”

Executive producer Chris Bendall immediately vetoed the idea, saying, “This is too much.” Is Lisa suggesting we send them the whole thing?’

Angus Llewellyn, the producer who was grilled on the witness stand for two days during Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation action against Ten and Wilkinson, also ruled out the leak.

“The SMH should wait and do its own thing apart from us,” he replied curtly in a tranche of hundreds of Ten internal emails recently released by the Federal Court.

‘We must tell our story and not run the risk of the SMH legally blowing us up.’

The files also show that Wilkinson was concerned that she came across as too serious and uncaring in the pre-broadcast versions of her interview with Ms Higgins.

She asked bosses to re-edit the footage to portray her as more sympathetic and sensitive by including shots of her asking Ms Higgins if she was okay as she cried.

“Given how traumatized poor Brittany is, is there any chance we can get past at least one of the moments where I asked her if she’s okay?” Wilkinson begged Ten bosses.

‘Maybe when she cries and blows her nose?

‘Otherwise I come across as quite matter-of-fact… especially as a woman listening to another woman’s deeply traumatic story.’

Mr Llewellyn ordered its inclusion in a follow-up email to editors on the Saturday before it aired just 48 hours later on Monday 15 February 2021.

“Lisa would like one or two ‘Are you okay?’ grabs in there when B(rittany) cries,” he told them.

‘Can we also add some photos where Lisa looks a little caring, especially when B is crying?

“Lisa looks a little forensic all the time and I just want to add some softer expressions.”

His notes from that time, also released by the court, show him reminding himself to “Look for caring looks…” with “when she cries” circled.

Producers were also concerned that Wilkinson looked “very flushed” and “quite hot” on camera during the interview, and editors applied “a filter” to correct this before the segment aired.

The file dump shows that TV bosses also kept Wilkinson in the dark over a major decision not to show the interview on her Sunday Project show and postpone it until Monday.

The decision was made in consultation with Ms Higgins and her partner David Sharaz as part of the couple’s strategy to create maximum political impact and to coincide with a print interview with news.com.au journalist Samantha Maiden.

But they only told Wilkinson that at the last possible moment, because she was keen to use the interview to boost the reputation of her Sunday evening show.

“Lisa still thinks we’re going to air on Sunday,” Llewellyn admitted in an email to bosses just six days before the broadcast.

“I didn’t mention Monday as such to her….”

Ten News editor Peter Meakin added: ‘We all know Lisa had her mind set on Sunday.’

But producer Laura Binnie added in another email: “We will have to manage her expectations.”

Mr Lehrmann launched legal action against Ten and Wilkinson following Ms Higgins’ interview, in which it was publicly alleged for the first time that she was raped by “a male colleague” in 2019 while she was a staffer at Parliament House.

He was not named in the episode, but claimed that friends and former colleagues were able to identify him as the alleged rapist. He strongly denies raping Ms Higgins.

A criminal trial against Mr Lehrmann was halted in October 2022 due to juror misconduct, and all charges against him were dropped in December 2022 due to concerns about Ms Higgins’ mental health.

The defamation trial began in November 2023 and lasted three weeks, until Christmas. Justice Michael Lee is expected to announce his findings later this year.