RDF Media, the production company forced to apologise over its controversial documentary about the Queen, has taken a hit on its shares after it reported a 27 per cent fall in half-year profits.

The company said it is in ongoing discussions with the BBC and ITV over both broadcasters’ respective commissioning freezes, put in place following the row over inaccurately edited footage of the Queen.

RDF shares dropped by 6.5p to 189p in early trading.

ITV has already indicated that it intends to lift the suspension on new commissions subject to formal sign-off on new compliance procedures.

The BBC has made no such statement but sources familiar with the situation said that the corporation could begin to lift the ban before Christmas. RDF would not confirm this.

RDF’s chief creative officer, Stephen Lambert, resigned earlier this month over the editing of a promotional clip for A Year with the Queen, which purported to show the Queen storming out of a photoshoot when she was actually walking in. A decision over whether to show the programme is still pending.

RDF, whose flagship programmes include Wife Swap and Faking It, said adjusted pre-tax profit for the six months to July 31 fell to £1.9 million from £2.6 million a year earlier.

RDF’s chief executive, David Frank, said that while the impact of the Queen row is not reflected in today’s figures he is expecting it to have a negative effect in the second half of the financial year.

Mr Frank said: "The recent suspension of commissioning imposed on RDF by the BBC and ITV lasted longer than we originally anticipated. As a result, the group will not make up sufficient ground to fulfil expectations for this year within its UK production division. However, a strong performance in the US will go some way to redress this.”

Frank also called for a “sense of perspective” with regards to the Queen fallout, which also resulted in the controller of BBC1 Peter Fincham resigning.

He said: ”Yes, the Queen incident grabbed the headlines and yes it was a difficult period. But we have a highly diversified business and a rapidly growing division in the US as well as RDF Rights (the distribution group) and RDF Kids in the UK.”

RDF ploughed £1.5 million back into growing its business over the six months.

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