Tara Brown may have a great story to tell, but will she be allowed to? Picture: Channel 9

There are already suggestions the Nine Network will be restricted in what it can broadcast and a spokeswoman has declined to comment on whether the network will be able to air footage of the kidnapping.

“(We’re) still checking with the team who are on the way home,” she said.

She told news.com.au that 60 Minutes may air an update on the story on Sunday but would have to check with the executive producer who was busy getting the crew back to Australia.

It was also unclear whether there were any legal or other restrictions preventing the story being told.

“This is something we’ll need to assess after the crew are home,” she said.

Ali Elamine, the father of the children involved in the botched kidnapping attempt, told The Project on Thursday night the agreement between his lawyers and the lawyers for Channel Nine stipulated that the network would not use any footage filmed in Beirut.

“My (agreement with) Sal and Channel Nine was that Sal drops the custody charges in Australia and Channel Nine (doesn’t) use that footage that they filmed in the process of... and don’t bring up the kids’ names.”

At the airport in Lebanon, reporter Tara Brown told The Australian: “Please appreciate we can’t talk. This is serious and we can’t talk about it”.

Despite the popularity of the show, the kidnapping attempt has been heavily criticised on morning talkback shows and on social media.

Australian entertainment reporter Peter Ford told 3AW the 60 Minutes crew should not be presented as “homecoming heroes”.

“There’s not a lot of public sympathy for them,” he said.

“If you try to present these people as great heroes returning, that can backfire.”

Mr Ford also speculated on whether or not 60 Minutes would air a tell-all special on the crew’s detainment.

“Everyone might be assuming that 60 Minutes are going to do the big extravaganza on Sunday night, that would seem to be the obvious thing to do, but they’re not,” he said.

“They’ll obviously have to address it, but they won’t be doing the full sit-down, detailed interview with all the gory aspects of what they’ve been through.

“And it’s a great yarn, particularly the blokes, they were in real midnight express type conditions — the women had it a little bit better — but that’s the irony here, this was all about pursuit of a story where they would get great vision and a great rollicking yarn but here they are, they ended up with a great yarn but have no vision and not really allowed to tell the story.”

When asked whether Nine was planning any special programming around the story, a spokeswoman said no decision had yet been made.

“We are waiting for our team to return and will make any announcements about programming when the decisions are made and definite,” she said.

However, Nine has shifted its top-rating show Married at First Sight out of its Monday and Tuesday timeslot, potentially clearing the decks for extra coverage.

60 minutes crew together again. Tara Brown, Stephen Rice, Ben Williamson, Channel 9 Network Director of News and Current Affairs Darren Wick and David Ballment. Picture: Channel 9/InstagramSource:Instagram

Regardless of whether the incident will be a ratings bonanza for Nine, Mr Ford expects some people will be sacked and said the network would already know who signed off on the alleged payment to the “child recovery” agency.

“A lot of experienced people were involved, somebody, if not more than one, will have to walk the plank,” he said.

“A lot of people should have put their hands up and said ‘we’re getting into dangerous turf here’.”