Craig Ewert, 59, of Britain, allowed his death by assisted suicide to be filmed for the documentary Right to Die?, which airs on Britain's Sky Television on Wednesday. (Sky Real Lives/Associated Press)

A film about assisted suicide by Canadian documentary maker John Zaritsky is the centre of a heated controversy in Britain after being scheduled to run on British TV.

The film, The Suicide Tourist, renamed Right to Die? in Britain, is to be shown on private network Sky Television on Wednesday.

It chronicles the stories of two people who visit the Dignitas organization in Zurich, which organizes assisted suicides in Switzerland, where the practice is legal.

One is an American man living in Britain who's suffering from a terminal motor neuron illness, the second a B.C. man with terminal heart disease whose wife wishes to die with him.

Critics have said the film should not be shown because it promotes assisted suicide. The film was aired on Canadian television last year and was acclaimed at festivals such as Hot Docs in Toronto.

The anti-euthanasia lobby group Care Not Killing said the decision to show the documentary is a "cynical attempt to boost television ratings."

Lawmaker Phil Willis raised the issue in Britain's Parliament on Wednesday, asking Prime Minister Gordon Brown if the program was "in the public interest or ... simply distasteful voyeurism."

Brown said it was "very important these issues are dealt with sensitively and without sensationalism, and I hope broadcasters remember they have a wider duty to the general public."

"Of course, it will be a matter for the television watchdogs when the broadcast is shown," he added.

British regulator Ofcom said it has rules about the portrayal of suicide, but it could not rule on whether Right to Die? follows those guidelines until after the program has been shown.

More than 100 U.K. citizens have travelled to Switzerland to use the services of Dignitas, a non-profit agency which aids people who want to die.

Craig Ewert, the American-born man who is followed in the documentary, agreed to have his death filmed by Zaritsky, a former producer of CBC's The Fifth Estate who has produced a number of award-winning documentaries.

Ewert's wife defended the film in an article in the Independent newspaper, saying her husband had wanted his death to be shown to help quell people's fears of death.

"He was keen to have it shown because when death is hidden and private, people don't face their fears about it. They don't acknowledge that it is going to happen, they don't reflect on it, they don't want to face it," Mary Ewert said.

"He wanted to remove a veil so that people could see how comfortably someone could die who — without this option of assisted suicide — maybe would have had a very painful death."

The film follows Ewert and his wife as they travel to the Swiss clinic. Later, Ewert is shown drinking sedatives and turning off his ventilator.

Zaritsky, who won an Oscar in 1982 for his documentary Just Another Missing Kid, told BBC radio he felt it would be "less than honest" not to show the moment of death.

"By putting it out there in its entirety, people can judge for themselves," he said.

Assisted suicide is a hot topic in Britain because of some high-profile cases involving British citizens. British law bans "aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring" suicide, but courts have recently been reluctant to convict people who help loved ones end their lives.

On Tuesday, the Crown said it would not charge the parents of a 23-year-old former rugby player who chose assisted suicide after being paralyzed in an accident.

Opponents of assisted suicide say the film and the court judgments are acting in concert to promote the idea that demand for assisted suicide is growing in Britain.

"This will only intensify the pressure felt by such people, whether real or imagined, to contemplate taking their lives for fear of being a burden upon loved ones, carers or a society that is short of resources," said Peter Saunders, director of the campaign group Care Not Killing.

With files from the Associated Press