Danny Boyle has claimed his team came under pressure while planning the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics to drop the sequence about the NHS.

The director's comments are to be shown in a BBC documentary about the Olympics, and will likely fuel suspicions that Jeremy Hunt, who was culture secretary at the time and is now the health secretary, tried to remove the tribute to the health service.

According to The Times, Tessa Jowell, Mr Hunt's predecessor as culture secretary, tells the programme: “I know that the new secretary of state [Mr Hunt took over in May, 2010]...wanted to be very hands on in the artistic content, and I think that was quite a tense time and Danny was absolutely clear that this was his show.”

Although he did not name Mr Hunt, Mr Boyle reportedly told the programme: “We did have some stand-offs.

“The forces wanted us to cancel one of the sequences, cut the NHS sequences is what they wanted to cut. They wanted us to reduce that or cut it or make them just walk around the ­stadium.”

In pictures: Junior doctors first all-out strike Show all 10 1 /10 In pictures: Junior doctors first all-out strike In pictures: Junior doctors first all-out strike Doctor in acute medicine, Melissa Haskins, holds up a 'I ain't afraid of no Hunt' sign whilst striking with other junior doctors outside her hospital, St Thomas' Hospital in London Getty Images In pictures: Junior doctors first all-out strike Accident and emergency junior doctor, Jennifer Hulse, holds a homemade placard outside St Thomas' Hospital as she strikes with colleagues in London Getty Images In pictures: Junior doctors first all-out strike Demonstrators and Junior doctors hold placards as they protest outside the Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital, in Basingstoke during a strike by junior doctors Getty Images In pictures: Junior doctors first all-out strike Demonstrators and Junior doctors hold placards as they protest outside the Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital, in Basingstoke during a strike by junior doctors Getty Images In pictures: Junior doctors first all-out strike A supporter displays a slogan on her bag during a junior doctors' strike outside St Thomas' Hospital in London Reuters In pictures: Junior doctors first all-out strike The picket line outside King's College Hospital in London PA In pictures: Junior doctors first all-out strike The picket line outside King's College Hospital in London, as thousands of junior doctors begun the first all-out strike in the history of the NHS after the Health Secretary said the Government would not be "blackmailed" into dropping its manifesto pledge for a seven-day health service PA In pictures: Junior doctors first all-out strike Junior doctors and supporters take part in a strike outside the Royal United Hospital in Bath Getty Images In pictures: Junior doctors first all-out strike Doctor in acute medicine, Melissa Haskins, holds up a 'I ain't afraid of no Hunt' sign whilst striking with other junior doctors outside her hospital, St Thomas' Hospital in London Getty Images In pictures: Junior doctors first all-out strike Dave Prentis, UNISON general secretary visits a British Medical Association picket line at Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton, to show support for striking junior doctors on the second day of the union's annual health conference PA

He added: “That was against the very nature of what we’d built right from the very beginning.

“It wasn’t even just about a particular sequence, it was about all the volunteers, and if you make the kind of statement and involve them in the process, you are not going to then cut them at the end...so you have to put your foot down.”

The claims are likely to be sensitive for Mr Hunt, who has been fighting to introduce a new junior doctors' contract.

Last week, he announced that the contract will be imposed on all junior doctors in a phased manner between October and the end of 2017.

The programme, Olympic Imagine Special: One Night in 2012, will be shown on BBC1 on Sunday 17 July.

Jeremy Hunt outlines imposed contract

During 2012, it was claimed that Government ministers tried to push for changes to the opening ceremony.

At the time, a spokewoman for Mr Hunt told the Daily Telegraph he "fully endorsed Danny Boyle's vision, including the section celebrating the NHS".

Responding to the revelations aired in the BBC documentary, a spokesperson told The Times Mr Hunt's “only concern in the planning was the length of the show – simply because we needed to be sure everyone would be able to get home safely”.