The BBC has halved the amount of time viewers have to make a complaint to 30 days.

In an effort to streamline and speed up the corporation's complaints process, the BBC Trust today issued new guidelines.

From August, there will be a new "general complaints procedure" and viewers will be able to ring a new 0370 complaints hotline number, rather than an 0870 one, making it cheaper for them to voice their criticisms.

However, certain types of complaint will still be dealt with separately - including those relating to programming matters; fair trading; the digital switchover help scheme; criticism of the BBC Trust itself; and for the first time, complaints to the BBC Trust about TV licensing.

Currently viewers have 60 working days to make a complaint.

The BBC has defended its decision to include cross-dressing Turner Prize-winning artist Grayson Perry on the panel of last night's Question Time, with one viewer complaining that the show had descended into a Channel 4-type freak show.

Following around 40 complaints on the Question Time website, the BBC today issued a statement pointing out that the BBC1 current affairs flagship often includes panellists from "diverse backgrounds".

Perry appeared on Question Time in Bexhill, east Sussex, last night in a long powder-blue dress with puffed sleeves, which one viewer claimed made him look like a "pantomime dame".

However, some viewers also supported Perry's Question Time appearance, claiming his choice of outfit reflected politics being a pantomime.

A BBC spokesman said: "Question Time invites a wide range of panellists on the show from diverse backgrounds – including artists: As a respected artist and Turner Prize winner, we felt he offered interesting viewpoints on the topics debated."

US comedienne Joan Rivers has had an appearance on a daytime TV show cut short after swearing live on air.

The 75-year-old's outburst came when talking about actor Russell Crowe on ITV's Loose Women.

The star claimed she was expecting a time delay so the strong language could be bleeped out.

An ITV spokeswoman said: Guests are always briefed that it is a live daytime show and are reminded not to swear or use inappropriate language. An editorial decision was taken that Joan Rivers should not appear in the final part of the programme. We would like to apologise to Loose Women viewers for the inappropriate language used on today's show.

Rivers, who is currently in the UK promoting her London acting debut in a self-penned autobiographical play, said she had warned the show: Get ready to bleep. She added that it was not her fault that producers did not have the facility to edit out bad language.

During a commercial break, Rivers said producers took her off the set, adding that it was the first time she had been removed in 40 years and she was "thrilled".

Any news if the new R2 release of Californication has been cut?

Seems to be a bit missing in episode 10 during the threesome scene.

The actual squirting bit seems to have been trimmed. Its simulated to which makes it a bit silly.

There are no cuts mentioned on the BBFC website so maybe pre-cut to avoid hassle.

ps An episode in the last series of The Sopranos had hardcore sex on a background TV in a sex shop digitally changed for the DVD release too. The scene was shown uncut on Irish TV but blurred when it was on E4. Again it was pre-cut before submission to the BBFC as there are no cuts noted in their database

The bullying row on Big Brother 9 has sparked more than 750 complaints since the show started last week.

Channel 4 has been accused of "not learning anything" from the last series of Celebrity Big Brother involving the allegedly bullying between Jade Goody and Shilpa Shetty.

Today, the media watchdog Ofcom said it had received 505 complaints since Alex De Gale began launching a foul-mouthed tirade at her housemates.

Channel 4 has also had around 250 complaints.

Update: More Whinging

18th June 2008

Ofcom has had more than 1,500 complaints about BB9. Alex De-Gale’s bullying is top of the list with 1,542 angry fans contacting the regulator.

Ofcom is to consider if broadcasting rules were broken when the word "pikey" - a slang term for gypsy - was used in ITV1's sports coverage

Commentator Martin Brundle was interviewing Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone before the Canadian Grand Prix, where part of the track crumbled.

There are some pikeys there at turn 10 putting tarmac down - what do you think of that, he asked Ecclestone.

Ofcom said it had received seven complaints. ITV said sorry to viewers.

A "small number" of people had contacted the network after Sunday's broadcast, an ITV spokesman said: We apologise for any offence.

An Ofcom spokeswoman said the regulator would assess the interview to see if there had been a potential breach of its broadcasting code. If this was felt to be the case, a formal investigation would then begin, she added.

The commissioning editor of BBC's Book At Bedtime has defended its choice of books after listeners said they were "inappropriate" and "disturbing".

Caroline Raphael said Barbara Gowdy's book Helpless, about the stalking and abduction of a nine-year-old girl, was extremely well written.

One Radio 4 listener complained the book made them feel physically sick.

Raphael said: Unfortunately, writers do want to write about disturbing things, but we felt that this showed a level of humanity and an attempt to understand the story from everybody's perspective, that we thought listeners would enjoy hearing.

Millions of viewers tune in every week to BBC's Springwatch, fronted by Bill Oddie. It came as a shock to many when the presenter used rather direct language when narrating sexual congress in the natural world.

Describing a mating scene between two sparrows, Oddie  said: The female is asking for it – and getting it, basically. She is doing that wing-fluttering think like that as if to say: 'I am a baby, feed me'... [and] is getting quite the opposite. He concluded the piece by saying: That's a wing-trembler she's just had there.

An item on beetles reignited the sensitivities of some viewers. Describing the sexual congress taking place in front of viewers' eyes, Oddie abandoned euphemism altogether. He crash-lands on top of a likely looking lady – there's a bit of luck! One thing's for sure: this boy is horny!

Then, as the male fought off a competing suitor for the right to mate, Oddie went into character, adopting the part of the female and saying in a high-pitched voice: Come on big boy, come and get it. Oh, be gentle with me!

A few viewers reacted with predictable outrage. One man complained: I am sick to death of the constant innuendo being offered by Bill every time a scene of mating appears.

It isn't funny or witty... just downright embarrassing when you are watching it with children. For example, being asked by my 10-year-old daughter: 'What does horny mean, daddy?' when watching mating beetles isn't right.

Another viewer said: This is schoolboy sniggering, behind-the-bike-sheds type humour and it's out of place in a programme that is otherwise marvellously educational for all age groups.

The BBC commented that many viewers endorsed the "light-hearted view" of Springwatch and Oddie. The programme is always looking at new, creative and entertaining ways of bringing nature to a wider audience. Storytelling is one of many ways of doing this. No offence was intended.

Strange Days is a 1995 US action film by Kathryn Bigelow

The BBFC provided the following justification for their 15s of cuts to the DVD:

The already reduced rape-murder scene in Strange Days was also found unacceptable on video, where the murder was further reduced to remove sexualised images of forcible breast exposure in a medium which could permit the repeated viewing of such scenes out of context. The scene was designed to convey the dangerous pleasures purveyed by 'snuff movies', but it seemed to the Board to have come perilously close to providing those same pleasures itself.

But now Daniel reports:

From what I could tell, ITV4 recent screening of STRANGE DAYS was uncut, including the 2 seconds removed from the Point of View rape / murder for the 1995 theatrical release, though this needs confirmation.

Hopefully this means that the BBFC would now allow an uncut DVD release.

The National Secular Society invite you to write to your MP and suggest signing Roger Godsiff's Early Day Motion (no. 1586) which criticises West Midlands Police for its behaviour over the Channel 4 Undercover Mosque programme. The matter is one of immense public importance going to the very heart of the Justice system.

The motion reads:

That this House welcomes the unreserved public apology given by the West Midlands Police and the Crown Prosecution Service and the six figure libel settlement paid by them to Channel 4 over the Dispatches programme broadcast on 15th January 2007 which contained covert filming inside mosques in Birmingham and Derby; notes that the comments and allegations made by West Midlands Police and the Crown Prosecution Service had already been dismissed by the industry regulator, Ofcom; further notes that the individuals shown in the programme broadcast were using highly derogatory and racist language against a variety of non-Muslim groups which included Christians, Jews, homosexuals, lesbians and women and were in clear breach of existing legislation in respect of incitement to religious and racial hatred; calls on the Home Secretary to launch an immediate investigation into why the West Midlands Police and the Crown Prosecution Service chose to attack the programme makers at Channel 4 rather than investigating and prosecuting the individuals who were shown in the programme; and asserts that incitement to religious and racial hatred has no place in British society.

Gordon Ramsay has come under fire for showing a rabbit having its neck broken on his Channel 4 show, The F Word.

The chef was shown using ferrets to hunt for the creatures with his son before viewers saw the rabbit being killed.

Animal lovers have attacked the programme for showing footage of the death.

It comes less than a week after Ramsay claimed his eight-year-old son had accidentally pulled off a live rabbit's head during the same expedition.

Those comments and Tuesday night's show - which did not feature the incident involving his son - have provoked 'outrage' at Ramsay's behaviour.

The rabbit that was shown being killed on screen was put to death by one of the men who owned the ferrets. RSPCA officers have received calls from viewers expressing their concern about the episode. But the organisation said no laws had been broken.

A Channel 4 spokesman said: As part of the current series of Gordon Ramsay's F Word, Gordon features in a regular strand in which he sources and cooks new or unusual ingredients.

Within this strand he explored the viability of finding, hunting and eating wild rabbit, historically a widely-consumed food but no longer part of a mainstream diet.

The location of the shoot was private land where rabbits cause extensive damage. In this context Department for the Environment guidelines were being followed and control measures - including ferreting - legal and in place."

Channel 4 showed Commando last night and it looks as though it was uncut. I notice from your site that the BBFC have passed it uncut but I don't think it is available to buy on DVD. [the Blu-ray release is said to be uncut though]

Bennett's death was longer and the tool shed fight was complete with second circular saw been thrown and the arm being chopped off.

It good to see TV companies starting to show longer versions and good for channel 4 who always had the balls to show full versions and look like being back to their usual selves!

The most charitable interpretation of the reaction of Anil Patani, the Assistant Chief Constable of West Midlands Police, to the Channel 4 documentary Undercover Mosque is that he was in a state of deep denial.

The programme recorded preachers at the Green Lane Mosque in Birmingham making remarks that were not only bigoted and full of hate but also bordered on incitement to murder. Abu Usamah, one of the main preachers, was shown saying: Osama Bin Laden, he’s better than a thousand Tony Blairs, because he’s a Muslim; Allah has created the woman, even if she gets a PhD, deficient. Her intellect is incomplete; and advocating that homosexuals should be “thrown off” mountains. Mr Patani’s reaction? To refer the programme makers to the Crown Prosecution Service for inciting racial hatred.

He also referred the programme to Ofcom, the TV regulator, sending out a press release as he did so. Mr Patani’s press release claimed that those featured in the programme had been misrepresented and that it had undermined community cohesion. Those claims were blatantly false, as the Ofcom investigation itself made crystal clear. But why on earth did Mr Patani make them?

...Read full article

Pop star Madonna has caused another upset - by swearing during a live broadcast on the BBC. The star was heard uttering 'fuck' twice during a Saturday airing of Radio 1's Big Weekend.

She performed a number of tracks during her 40 minute set. Madonna introduced her track Hung Up to the Maidstone crowd, saying: You guys are going to have to start fucking it up out there 'cos I need to feel some love. I'm going to do an old song. But not too old. Fuck the present. Let's live in the past. She said.

Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe apologised shortly afterwards.

Back in August 2007 I wrote a defence of the Undercover Mosque programme and, among many reasonable responses, I came in for the now obligatory charges of Islamophobia, neocon activism and, of course, racism. This kind of thing is standard these days if you state your opposition to the idea that hitting 10-year-old girls is reasonable, that women are lesser beings then men, that killing homosexuals is wrong, that killing apostates is unacceptable, and that all Muslims supposedly hate the kuffar. All of those views were propagated by the preachers who were recorded in Undercover Mosque, a diligent documentary made in difficult circumstances. And yet the West Midlands police not only attempted to prosecute the filmmakers but also, having failed in that absurd endeavour, reported the documentary to Ofcom.

...Read full article

The Crown Prosecution Service and West Midlands Police will apologise in the High Court today for wrongly accusing a Channel 4 film of faking an exposé of Islamic extremism.

The producers of Undercover Mosque, a Dispatches investigation that showed preachers predicting jihad and calling for the murder of non-believers, have also accepted a six-figure libel settlement reported to be £100,000

The programme, screened last January, showed footage gathered at a number of mosques in the West Midlands using hidden cameras. It included one preacher who praised the Taleban for killing British soldiers.

Another, Abu Usamah, a preacher at the Green Lane mosque in Birmingham, was filmed saying: If I were to call homosexuals perverted, dirty, filthy dogs who should be murdered, that is my freedom of speech isn't it?

However, instead of pursuing a prosecution of the preachers, police and the CPS began an investigation into the producers, accusing them of selective editing and distortion. The film-makers were accused of undermining community relations.

The police took the highly unusual step of referring Dispatches to Ofcom, the media watchdog.

Ofcom threw out the complaint. It found that the programme had accurately represented the material it had gathered and dealt with the subject matter responsibly and in context. It was a legitimate investigation, uncovering matters of important public interest. Each quote was justified by the narrative of the programme and put fully in context.

Hardcash Productions, which made the film, joined Channel 4 in a libel complaint against the police and CPS over the “distortion” claim.

West Midlands Police and CPS will apologise unreservedly for comments that they accept were incorrect and unjustified. They said that there was no evidence that the broadcaster or programme-makers had misled the audience or that the programme was likely to encourage or incite criminal activity”.

Kevin Sutcliffe, deputy head of current affairs at Channel 4, said: This is a total vindication of the programme team.

Eastenders scenes in which a love-cheat was drugged and buried alive by his wife have been criticised by the BBC's complaints unit.

The corporation's internal watchdog said the storyline involving the characters Max and Tanya Branning caused unintentional upset among a segment of the audience.

The BBC had previously defended the Easter holiday episodes after they prompted more than 150 complaints.

They claimed they had taken "great care" to flag up the nature of the episode before it was broadcast.

Regulator Ofcom is investigating the shows, in which Max was eventually let out, after 118 viewers complained.

Jonathan Ross has wound up nutters with some boisterous sexy banter with Gwynet Paltrow.

Ross said he wanted to 'fuck' married mother of two Gwyneth Paltrow if his wife would give him permission.

His liberal use of strong language on his recorded BBC1 chat show Friday Night With Jonathan Ross prompted gasps from the audience and the interview tone left Ms Paltrow speechless and looking shocked at times.

The astonishing language – thought to be the first time a major film star has been spoken to in such a direct sexual way on television– has been heavily criticised by the nutters of Mediawatch UK and an MP.

Tory MP Philip Davies said Ross’s undignified remarks called into question the BBC’s role as a public service broadcaster, particularly as he is reportedly paid £6million a year of licence fee-payers’ money: Mr Ross likes to use inappropriate language in an attempt to be outrageous but the question is, should licence fee-payers have to pay for it on a public service broadcasting channel? My view is that they should not have to. I believe this issue should be raised with the BBC by the select committee when we have our next meeting with them.

The Sunday Express pointed out that, although the programme airs at 10.35pm, it is available during the day through the online iPlayer service.

The interview with Ms Paltrow was broadcast a week ago last Friday. Ross talked about her two young children, Moses and Apple, and inquired if she was thinking of having another child by asking her: Maybe having sex again soon?

A startled-looking Ms Paltrow responded: With you?

Ross then replied: Christ yes. I will phone my wife and if she gave permission, I would fuck you. Clearly you are gagging for it.

Broadcaster Michael Aspel, a guest on the same programme, spoke about his days presenting Miss World and Ross asked him if he had 'fucked' a contestant.

Mediawatch UK director John Beyer said: Clearly the BBC is not regulating this programme or monitoring the language being used, which is unacceptable and unnecessary and degrading. With the iPlayer system, the 9pm watershed is meaningless.

Ms Paltrow’s Los Angeles publicist Steve Huvane said: Gwyneth very much enjoyed her appearance on the show and the joking was all in good fun. She was not offended.

In the Line of Fire is a 1993 US film by Wolfgang Petersen (Columbia/TriStar)

Thanks to Martin

I noticed during Friday's late night TV showing (00:50) of the Clint Eastwood film In the Line of Fire on ITV 2 that the previously cut scene of John Malkovich killing the bank teller and her room-mate at their home was uncut. This meant the fairly graphic depiction of 2 neck-breaks, sound effects included.

The film is showing again on ITV 2 on Tuesday 20th May @ 23:05 and Wednesday 21st May @ 21:00.

Hopefully ITV got the nod from the BBFc that these cuts would now be waived

Cuts of 8-10s apply to both 1993 cinema and 1994 video versions. The same cuts spec was implemented slightly differently for different versions.

From IMDb:

• The UK VHS and DVD versions remove close-ups of the bag over Al's head during the opening sequence.
• Frank's shooting of the second bad guy on the boat is also cut - but only on widescreen prints - to remove the blood cloud. On the VHS pan and scan version, the blood impact happens off-screen.
• The assault on the banker's housemate has been cut from the DVD as well, but remains in the VHS video with a toned-down impact sound. Shortly after this, the two neck breaks have been removed completely, despite the BBFC only requesting sound cuts.

Jesus Camp (Channel 4, Tuesday 6 May, 11.05pm).

The documentary Jesus Camp makes for pretty grim viewing. It focuses on the Kids On Fire School of Ministry's Christian summer camp where activities include praying for George W. Bush (with a cardboard cut out present for inspiration), telling young children that abortion is evil and that Harry Potter should be put to death as a warlock. The camp's leader, Becky Fisher, is particularly fond sharing her views on "the truth" and the purpose of the camp...

It's no wonder, with that kind of intense training and discipling, that those young people are ready to kill themselves for the cause of Islam. I wanna see young people who are as committed to the cause of Jesus Christ as the young people are to the cause of Islam. I wanna see them as radically laying down their lives for the Gospel as they are over in Pakistan and Israel and Palestine and all those different places, you know, because we have... excuse me, but we have the truth!

As you can probably tell the film does not paint a very good picture of the camp or the evangelical side of modern Christian and the version screened on Channel 4 will have managed to persuade even more people that this is the only face of evangelical Christianity.

The documentary ran at 60 minutes (including adverts) some 24 shy of it's cinema and DVD runtime. Whilst the shortened version got across the general nature of the film and the shocking nature of the camp's indoctrination sessions it also turned it into a one sided argument. The voice of mainstream Chirstianity was nowhere to be heard. The cinema version features a chap called Mike Papantonio, a lawyer, broadcaster and Methodist who heavily criticises the camp and it's activities.

I'm not a religious man but I know plenty of people who are upset by what they consider to be the one sided representation of their religion perpetrated by a media that focuses on these uber-nutters. I don't agree with this view but it certainly does not help when a broadcaster takes, what I consider to be, a fair documentary and edits the balance out of it.

If you are interested in Jesus Camp and the terrible activities of the American Christian Right then you would be much better served to grab a copy of the DVD or, at least, wait until Channel 4 broadcast the full version.

A Christian party has lost a High Court bid to have its party election broadcast (PEB) repeated, after claims it was censored by the BBC and ITV.

Christian Choice said the BBC forced changes to its description of a Muslim group in a PEB aired in London.

The BBC said it expressed concern and Christian Choice responded by agreeing to change the form of words.

The judge said the request had been left "far too late" - although he did not think the PEB had been libellous.

Alan Craig, the party's candidate for London mayor, had argued the action breached his rights under the European Convention on Human Rights - which guarantees the right to freedom of expression.

Rejecting Craig's request for a judicial review, the judge, Mr Justice Collins, said he should have launched the legal challenge before the broadcast took place on 23 April. He said it was "perfectly permissible" for the BBC to take into account legal advice that the original broadcast might have been libellous - although he did not think it would have been.

But the judge said the BBC had indicated that if a legal challenge had been issued before the broadcast it would have backed down and let them publish as they wished.

Unfortunately that was not done, Mr Justice Collins added. He ordered Mr Craig to pay the BBC's £11,875 in legal costs.

Original version:

You may know about plans by a separatist Islamic group to build Europe’s biggest mosque next to the Olympics site in West Ham. I think it’s a bad idea that will bring division and I’m glad moderate Muslims support my stance in opposing it.

Censored version:

You may know about controversial plans by an Islamic group to build Europe’s biggest mosque next to the Olympics site in West Ham. I think it’s a bad idea that will bring division and I’m glad some Muslims leaders support my stance in opposing it.

A new trend seems to be upon us. Showing BBFC "UNFRIENDLY" versions on TV. In the past few weeks, several of my favourite films have been shown on TV in their COMPLETE uncut glory. One of them (Die hard with a vengeance), at a ridiculously early time (9pm on a saturday!) this film is rated 15 in the UK and is appallingly dubbed, cut, and generally fucked with. However UK gold seemed to think that everyone under 15 was safely tucked up in bed at 9pm. Buena vista on the other hand denied us the full version because they are money grabbing whores (don't think its fair to blame the BBFC, as they would have probably given the film an uncut 18 willingly).

So my ass was chapped on that. Then, Zone horror screens one of the most notorious films of its day, The Toxic avenger, COMPLETELY uncut! I grant you, it was at 3am, but surely children can get hold of a DVD / video 24/7? So why does Zone horror have the right to this, yet I've got to pay EXTORTIONATE postage rates to import my favourite films? Then buy a special DVD / video player to watch them?

Then last night ITV 2 screens the COMPLETE uncut Hot shots part deux! ANOTHER film (ps, the first ones heavily cut too) I've had to import because of shitty narrow minded cynics, and money grabbing whores.

I don't however blame the BBFC. I know that sounds strange, but its true. All of these films (and countless others), could quite easily be released uncut in this country if the distributors would just listen to what the public want. Eraser would have done so much better on video if it was an 18 (as it was at the cinema). That film was famously boycotted by video renters because word got out VERY FAST about the appalling butcher style editing. Die hard with a vengeance would've sat quite happily as an 18, the first one was, and the widescreen video version of the second one was too. As for The Toxic Avenger that's never been submitted uncut, SO HOW THE FUCK DO THEY KNOW IT WONT BE PASSED UNCUT!

Starting to wonder if the censorship problem of old in the UK was not so much the BBFC (not denying they played their part), but the distributors and their whole MORE UNITS WILL SHIFT IF YOUNGER PEOPLE CAN RENT THEM philosophy. Distributors trust me, you can slap barb wire around the case, and coat it in strontium 90. Kids will still see it.

In short GIVE US OUR FILMS YOU MONEY GRABBING BASTARDS!

Film Four’s recent screened Roger Avery’s THE RULES OF ATTRACTION.

Though the original NC-17 version of THE RULES OF ATTRACTION was passed uncut for theatrical screenings in the UK, the subsequent video version was cut to remove a shot of Teresa Wayman cutting her wrist lengthwise with a razor because the BBFC considered it instructional depiction of a potentially lethal suicide technique. The shot in question only lasts a few seconds, so the distributor removed it and then slowed down the remaining footage to cover the gap left by the deleted shot and allow the Harry Nillson song ‘Without You’ to play as it does in the uncut version. As a result the BBFC list a substitution cut of 1 min 34 seconds, the total amount of footage slowed to accommodate the cut.

The BBFC’s intervention did not really lessen the power of this crucial scene, but unfortunately when the film was screened recently on Film Four, whoever prepared the film for broadcast misunderstood the technical aspects of this cut, and instead removed the 1 minute 34 seconds the BBFC appeared to mandate deleting the suicide scene in almost its entirety. Accidental though it seems to be, it’ a crippling cut, but I’m sure a few helpful e-mails sent in Film Four’s direction could sort this out.

MPs have blocked a bill that would have banned the advertising of junk food and drinks to children. The Food Products (Marketing to Children) Bill aimed to make it an offence to promote "less healthy" foodstuffs to children.

Introduced by Labour MP Nigel Griffiths last year, it would also have introduced a 9pm watershed for television advertising of unhealthy food. However, the bill failed at its second reading in the House of Commons.

On 1st January Ofcom introduced a ban on television adverts for foods high in fat, salt and sugar during shows aimed at under-16s.

A London mayoral candidate is taking the BBC and ITV to the High Court for censoring his party Election Broadcasts in the run up to the May 1 elections.

The Christian Choice candidate, Alan Craig, has instructed the Christian Legal Centre to file papers this morning at the Royal Courts of Justice after BBC and ITV officials instructed him to remove parts of his Party Election Broadcast which was aired on Wednesday evening.

Cllr Craig, a long-standing campaigner against the 'mega-mosque', due to be built in Newham close to the site of the Olympic Games, originally described the organisation behind it, Tablighi Jamaat, as ‘separatist’.

However, BBC and ITV officials responsible for supervising the Broadcasts instructed him to moderate his views and change this description of the Islamic organisation if he wanted it aired.

Cllr Craig claims not only ‘political interference’ by the broadcasters, but says such action breeches his rights under the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects freedom of speech.

According to the Christian Legal Centre, Cllr Craig changed the word to “controversial” under duress. Late in the day ITV insisted that the agreed word “controversial” should be applied to the mosque plans not to the Islamic group. Cllr Craig’s objections to the mega-mosque, however, have consistently been related to the nature of the Islamic group behind the project - the plans have not yet been published.

Cllr Craig said: BBC and ITV officials, none of whom were lawyers to our knowledge, clearly instructed us to ‘tone down’ our views and change the sense if we wanted the PEB broadcast. The legal language of ‘libel’ was mentioned by the BBC, and in the case of TV, we were forced to go back to the studios at the last minute to record a censored version of the PEB.

I am advised that libel is a defamation of an individual, and no-where in the broadcast do we defame individuals. My comments are reasonable and moderate and do not contradict the Racial and Religious Hatred Act. The BBC and ITV are not entitled to limit free speech and I look forward to the judge ordering them both to broadcast my original message.

Andrea Minichiello Williams, barrister and director of the Christian Legal Centre, said: Providing that the content of an election broadcast is within the law, the BBC and ITV should enable the electorate to hear the unedited views of candidates and allow them to make up their own minds as to whether they agree or not.

The Christian Legal Centre will be calling for a Judicial Review of the BBC’s and ITV’s decision, and ask the judge to order, as a matter of urgency, the unedited Party Election Broadcast on both channels. The case will be heard next Monday when Cllr Craig will be represented by leading Human Rights barrister, Paul Diamond.

Update: The Censored Word

29th April 2008

Original version:

You may know about plans by a separatist Islamic group to build Europe’s biggest mosque next to the Olympics site in West Ham. I think it’s a bad idea that will bring division and I’m glad moderate Muslims support my stance in opposing it.

Censored version:

You may know about controversial plans by an Islamic group to build Europe’s biggest mosque next to the Olympics site in West Ham. I think it’s a bad idea that will bring division and I’m glad some Muslims leaders support my stance in opposing it.

Wednesday 28 May 2008, BBC: Filth: The Mary Whitehouse Story

With Julie Walters starring as Mary Whitehouse and Hugh Bonneville playing her arch-enemy, BBC Director-General Hugh Carleton Greene, Filth: The Mary Whitehouse Story will bring to life the battle for Britain's morals that raged in the Sixties.

Julie Walters said: I am very excited to be playing Mary Whitehouse, and to looking at the time when she attacked the BBC and started to make her name.

The 90-minute film was written by Amanda Coe,

You might think that, at the moment, the television regulator Ofcom doesn't know whether it's coming or going on the question of whether it's permissible to speak on TV the slang words for, well, coming and going. This week it turned down complaints about the use of the F-word in The Catherine Tate Christmas Special, but, a few days earlier, had forced the BBC to make a long on-screen apology for sexual and scatological language during the Live Earth concerts.

Viewers may well wonder, according to taste, what the fuck is going on or, alternatively, what the f**k is going on?

...Read the full article

Mark Thompson, the Director General of the BBC, has warned broadcasters against becoming overly-cautious in their reporting on Islam for fear of causing offence to Muslims.

Speaking at Westminster Cathedral Thompson, a practising Catholic, said there was a growing nervousness about discussion about Islam and its relationship to the traditions and values of British and Western society as a whole.

He said that the BBC and other major channels have a special responsibility to ensure that debates about faith and society and about any religion should not be foreclosed or censored.

In an effort to demonstrate that his remarks were not targeted solely at ensuring that Islam received journalistic scrutiny, Thompson also referred to his decision to broadcast Jerry Springer, The Opera despite an avalanche of complaints from Christians unhappy at the depiction of Jesus in the satire.

There is no point having a BBC which isn’t prepared to stand up and be counted; which will do everything it can to mitigate potential religious offence; but which will always be forthright in the defence of freedom of speech and of impartiality, he said.

The BBC has received complaints after Anne Robinson asked a contestant to feel her breasts during a celebrity charity version of The Weakest Link.

TV wine-taster Olly Smith felt Robinson's breasts after referring to the 63-year-old presenter as a full-bodied, expensive red.

The BBC stressed it was a playful and light-hearted exchange. But 16 people complained about the incident, which was broadcast at teatime on Saturday. The programme was watched by 5.5 million people, the BBC said.

The exchange came after Robinson told Smith that she did not like being called "full bodied". She then invited Smith to feel her breasts, who declared them to be "absolutely fantastic".

Comedian and writer Ben Elton has accused the BBC of being too "scared" to allow jokes about Islam.

Elton, who co-wrote critically acclaimed sitcoms such as The Young Ones and Blackadder, said the BBC's reluctance to run material that might offend Muslims was based on fear rather than morality.

Speaking in an interview with Christian magazine Third Way, Elton was asked if too much deference was shown to religious people: I believe that part of it is due to the genuine fear that the authorities and the community have about provoking the radical elements of Islam.

There's no doubt about it, the BBC will let vicar gags pass but they would not let imam gags pass. They might pretend that it's, you know, something to do with their moral sensibilities, but it isn't. It's because they're scared. I know these people.

Elton said it was difficult to use even common sayings: I wanted to use the phrase 'Muhammad came to the mountain' and everybody said, 'Oh, don't! Just don't! Don't go there!'.

It was nothing to do with Islam, I was merely referring to the old proverb, 'If the mountain won't come to Muhammad, Muhammad must go to the mountain.' And people said, 'Let's just not!' It's incredible.

Elton's comments were refuted by the BBC. No subject is off limits for BBC comedy, a BBC spokesman said: [...BUT...] The treatment should not cause harm or offence.

Children's casual use of strong language is being fuelled by TV programmes such as Never Mind the Buzzcocks, the head of the largest teaching union has said.

Pupils are increasingly using sexist and offensive language, making comments about classmates' sizes or the perceived sexuality of a teacher, Steve Sinnott, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, told the union's annual conference in Manchester yesterday.

He said that quiz shows such as Never Mind the Buzzcocks and They Think It's All Over fuelled the casual use of bad language. Programme makers and celebrities need to reflect on what's taking place. Too much cruel behaviour can be seen on television programmes.

The children's secretary, Ed Balls, will tomorrow tell a second union conference of plans to launch a campaign to protect teachers from cyberbullying. It comes after a rise in the number of pupils taking embarrassing pictures and video on their mobile phones of teachers and putting them on websites. He will say he has asked the Cyberbullying Taskforce, which until now has focused on the impact on children, to look at what measures can be introduced to protect teachers as well.

The BBC has apologised to viewers for a Good Friday edition of EastEnders in which a character was apparently buried alive in a coffin. The broadcaster did not wait for the TV censor Ofcom to investigate the programme, which sparked 167 complaints.

Viewers said the scenes of philanderer Max Branning being placed unconscious into a coffin by his wife Tanya and her lover, were inappropriate for a pre-watershed programme watched by families.

The BBC said: The burial is in no way glamorised or glorified, rather we see that when pushed to the edge, Tanya’s behaviour becomes out of character, and indeed that it’s Tanya herself who ultimately suffers because of her actions. Once again we are sorry that you did not enjoy these episodes.

The scenes were carefully filmed and edited in order that Max’s ordeal was in the main implicit, rather than explicit, whilst still retaining their powerfulness. The character ultimately escaped alive.

A scene in BBC One soap EastEnders which showed a character being buried alive has prompted 167 complaints.

The episode, shown at 8pm on Friday night, showed character Max Branning being buried alive in a coffin by his wife and her lover.

Viewers complained that it should not have been shown before the 9pm watershed because children could find it disturbing.

The BBC said the number of complaints was proportionately small. EastEnders is known for its dramatic and gripping storylines and, from a total audience of 10 million, the number of complaints is relatively small, a spokeswoman said.

In the episode, viewers saw Max's wife, Tanya, spike his drink, causing him to collapse. She and her lover, Sean Slater, then drove Max to woodland where they buried him alive in a coffin.

The BBC has backed down over allegations of anti-gipsy racism in children's TV show Basil Brush.

Bosses admitted that an episode which caused offence was "inappropriate" and have told police it will not be shown again.

Officers have now decided no further action will be taken. Police have not yet told the BBC formally about the outcome of their inquiries but a source said: The episode was made six years ago. The BBC looked at it and took the view that it's not terribly offensive but it's old enough that it probably wouldn't be made in the same way if done today.

The episode was repeated on the digital channel CBBC on February 21 this year and has been released on DVD.

It features Basil and his friend Mr Stephen, who succumbs to a gipsy spell that makes him attractive to women. Having just moved into a flat above Basil's, Dame Rosie Fortune – who casts the spell – offers him heather and pegs at his front door, which he rejects.

She also offers to tell Basil his fortune and he replies: I went to a fortune teller once and he said I was going on a long journey. When Mr Stephen asks what happened, Basil replies: He stole my wallet and I had to walk all the way home.

A Northamptonshire Police spokesman said: This complaint has now been concluded to the satisfaction of all parties involved.

There had been no arrests.