A ITV documentary that claimed to show the death of a man with Alzheimer's did not actually film his final moments, the broadcaster admitted today.

In publicity material for Malcolm And Barbara: Love’s Farewell, the film's producers wrote: "The film ends when Barbara calls Paul to ask him to come as Malcolm is about to die. In moving scenes, Malcolm is surrounded by his family and Barbara strokes his head as he passes away."

The film-maker, Paul Watson, said of his decade-long project to document the illness and death of Malcolm Pointon: “The film includes his moments of happiness and love for Barbara up to his death surrounded by his family. I don’t want our ITV audience to be frightened of death.”

But a comment left on Times Online by the brother of Mr Pointon revealed that Mr Watson and his film crew left Mr Pointon's bedside three days before he died.

Responding to a Sunday Times article by Minette Marrin that questioned whether television should intrude at the moment of death, Graham Pointon wrote: “From the moment someone is diagnosed with a terminal illness, technically, that person is dying.

“In the new film, we see my brother, Malcolm Pointon, dying. We do not see him die — filming finished three days before Malcolm stopped breathing, so the argument about the ethics of showing this on television, while important, does not apply in this case.

"I was there on the Monday before Malcolm’s death, and heard Paul say, as he left, that he had enough material for the film, and would now leave the family in peace. He did not return that week. Malcolm died on the following Thursday morning.”

ITV released a statement today acknowledging that a press screening last month and the promotional material for the film had been misleading. Coming hard after the controversy surrounding the BBC series about the Queen and widespread concerns about public trust in television, ITV’s director of television Simon Shaps said the truth about the film's content "should have been made clear earlier."

“The film maker responsible, Paul Watson, has now confirmed that the film does not portray the moment of Malcolm’s passing, which was in fact some days later," said Mr Shaps. “This will be made clear at the end of the film on transmission and should have been made clear earlier.”

The illness and last days of Mr Pointon were filmed eight years after Mr Watson made his first award-winning programme, Malcolm And Barbara: A Love Story, about Mr and Mrs Pointon's battle with Malcom's Alzheimer's. In all, Mr Watson spent 11 years chronicling the advance of the disease over Mr Pointon, a talented pianist and former composer.

The family, including Mrs Pointon, a music lecturer who once hosted a BBC radio music programme with her husband, say that they hope the films will counter public ignorance about Alzheimer's and add dynamism to the search for a cure. Mrs Pointon also maintains that the moment her husband slipped into unconsciousness — which was filmed by Mr Watson — was the moment he “died".

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