The most complained about moment in British TV history
By the mid-1950s, it was becoming increasingly common for British households to own a television. While they were designed to bring entertainment and news broadcasts to the home, triumphing over radio due to their ability to show moving images, televisions soon became a major part of people’s family life.
For decades, families and friends have gathered around the television to watch coverage of special events, such as Royal weddings and sporting games, or tuned in to watch a highly-anticipated episode of a show. Uniting people after a long day of work or school, the television has long been a staple of the home.
Over the years, British television has aired its fair share of shocking moments, from scandalous reality TV scenes to nightmare-inducing public information films. For example, in the 1970s, there were plenty of PIFs warning of the dangers of everything from littering to children playing on farms, resulting in some surprisingly graphic moments that were shown during advert breaks.
In 2002, the Office of Communications (Ofcom) was established. While it has many functions, Ofcom ensures “viewers and listeners are protected from harmful or offensive material on TV, radio and on-demand” and that “people are protected from unfair treatment in programmes, and don’t have their privacy invaded.” Thus, when people do see something they deem offensive on their screens, Ofcom is the first port of call to make a complaint.
Many television broadcasts have received thousands of Ofcom complaints, but few triumph as the worst. In third place is the time when Piers Morgan spouted offensive comments about Meghan Markle on Good Morning Britain in 2021, with Ofcom receiving 41,015 complaints. Taking second place with 44,500 complaints is a 2007 episode of Celebrity Big Brother, which saw Jade Goody hurl racial abuse at a calm and collected Shilpa Shetty. The incident is one of the show’s most memorable moments due to Goody’s relentless bullying, with Channel 4 being told by Ofcom that they’d broken the Broadcasting Code.
However, in first place was the broadcasting of Stewart Lee and Richard Thomas’ Jerry Springer: The Opera. It was based on the popular American reality talk show Jerry Springer, which sees guests air their personal issues, often resulting in dramatic fights. The musical was a huge success, although it incorporated many daring scenes, with the worst offender for many viewers being a tap dancing sequence that featured performers dressed as members of the KKK.
As a result, when it was broadcast on BBC Two in 2005, Ofcom received 55,000 complaints. Many of these stemmed from campaigns from Christian groups who were disgusted by the musical’s treatment of their religion. There were many satirical jokes revolving around homosexuality and general profanity that rubbed many Christians the wrong way, although Ofcom rejected these complaints.
The BBC was not in trouble since they had accurately advertised the musical, and the content was clearly satire, with Ofcom stating that it “did not gratuitously humiliate individuals or any groups and in particular the Christian community. Its target was television and fame”.
