UK TV and Radio News

Schitt's Creek is a LGBT themed comedy being broadcast on Channel 4's 4mUsic Channel at 9pm.

The TV series is one imagined in a world where there is not homophobia, with the lead character pansexual David Rose, played by show creator Dan Levy.

People have been discussing cuts online but it is not clear what the rationale is to the onconsistent censorship. A Twitter user explained:

4Music showed Schitt's Creek with cut dialogue between David and Patrick, specifying that verbiage about sleeping together had been omitted. But their kiss is there. And episodes earlier talk of Moira sleeping with Roland remains. And Moira still says 'fuck,' so some curious censoring.

The next episode where Jake kisses David 204 no kiss -- But Patrick and David still kiss. Again with odd censoring.

Are they limiting my gay content? Can I only see PG-related kissing boys, but no talk of having sex? And no other boy can come along kissing on them?

Series creator and star Dan Levy joined in the debate:

Is this true 4 Music? the show creator tweeted to the British television station. Censoring kissing and intimate dialogue? He later noted that the censorship was not only highly disturbing and dangerous but that removing the kiss between David and Jake took out a big laugh from the scene!

Update: Just a ghastly mistake...we'll do better next time...honest!

25th December 2019. See article from instinctmagazine.com

As always when companies are caught censoring they claim that it was all a big mistake and that they'll do better next time. 4Music have responded in the usual manner, tweeting:

To all our Schitt's Creek fans: sorry the show you saw at the weekend wasn't as we planned, this was 100% human error. We do often edit shows for different time slots and David's kiss with Jake was inadvertently lost from the episode that we played.

This will be sorted for all future broadcasts of this episode.

Ofcom issued a draft notice to suspend the broadcasting licence of Club TV Limited, after its channel Peace TV Urdu repeatedly rebroadcast material that we had previously found incited murder.

Ofcom has a duty to suspend a broadcast licence if we are satisfied that the licensee has broadcast a programme likely to encourage or to incite the commission of crime; that it has therefore contravened its licence conditions; and that the contravention justifies the revocation of the licence.

On 18 November 2019, having received Ofcom's draft suspension notice, Club TV surrendered its licence. Its sister company Lord Production Inc Limited, which held the licence to broadcast the English language Peace TV service, also surrendered its licence at the same time.

The Peace TV and Peace TV Urdu services are no longer broadcasting.

Strictly Come Dancing's recent same-sex routine had sparked almost 200 complaints .

The corporation's Audience Services arm received 189 complaints after Graziano Di Prima and Johannes Radebe danced together during a performance from Emeli Sandé.

The report published by the BBC states that complainants said it was offensive to feature two men dancing as a pair.

TV watchdog Ofcom also confirmed to HuffPost UK it had received one complaint, but their protocol is that people should speak to the BBC's executive complaints unit first.

Note to Broadcasters

Daytime chat and adult chat television services

Recent complaint assessments and investigations1 about television channels promoting telephone chat services have highlighted concerns about the sexual nature of content on some of these services. This note reminds broadcasters responsible for such services of Ofcom’s guidance on daytime and adult chat services.

Channels promoting audience interaction through premium rate services are subject to the BCAP Code as they are long-form advertising services. The BCAP Code contains rules that ensure audiences, including children, are protected from material that may cause them harm or is offensive.

Ofcom’s guidance published in July 2013 states that channels offering ‘daytime chat’ and ‘adult chat’ services must be placed within the ‘adult’ or similarly identified section of a platform’s electronic programme guide. The guidance also clearly sets out what Ofcom considers to be acceptable to broadcast on these services, both before and after the watershed.

During daytime chat content, presenters’ dress and behaviour should be non-sexual in tone and apparent intent. Therefore, presenters should wear clothing that adequately covers their bodies (in particular their breasts, genital areas and buttocks). Presenters should not wear revealing underwear, swimwear, gym wear or fetish clothing.

Between 21:00 and 05:30 on cable and satellite platforms and midnight and 05:30 on terrestrial platforms, broadcasters may promote adult chat services. Adult chat broadcasters should ensure that the transitions to more adult material at 21:00, and from adult chat to daytime chat at 05:30, are not unduly abrupt. For example, no shots of bare breasts should be broadcast before 22:00. Additionally, the guidance lists examples of content that these broadcasters should avoid altogether. These include images of presenters’ anal, labial or genital areas, real or simulated sex acts and sexually explicit language.

Ofcom has made clear to licensees in published decisions what sort of material is unsuitable in daytime chat or adult chat advertising content broadcast without mandatory restricted access.

Ofcom is putting daytime chat and adult chat broadcasters on notice that as a result our concerns about these services’ compliance with the BCAP Code, we are commencing a targeted monitoring exercise of all services broadcasting daytime and adult chat content. Ofcom will consider any breach relating to the broadcast of sexual content on these services to be potentially serious and will consider taking appropriate regulatory action, which could include the imposition of a statutory sanction.

Nawab Ghar
PTV Global, 29 March 2019, 18:25

Nawab Ghar is a situation comedy series on PTV Global which is available on satellite in the UK. PTV Global is an Urdu language general entertainment channel aimed at a Pakistani audience.

The title of this comedy programme translates to The Lord's House, the central character is called Nawab, which translates to Lord. This programme included members of Nawab's family hoping to secure a partner for marriage. Chris Fail, who is presented as a distant relative, visited Nawab's home with his niece in order to arrange her marriage. The Chris Fail characters seems to be a take on the cricketer Chris Gayle.

During the visit to Nawab's home, Chris Fail falls in love with Guddo, Nawab's sister-in-law. Ofcom received a complaint about racially offensive references in the above programme. The complainant felt that the programme was racially offensive due to the use of 'blackface'

In this programme, Chris Fail was described as a visitor from Africa. Chris Fail was portrayed as having dark skin (which appeared to have been achieved with dark make-up) and long grey curly hair (a wig) under a black headscarf. In the programme he sang and danced when he started conversations with other characters.

Ofcom considered Rule 2.3:

broadcasters must ensure that material which may cause offence is justified by the context206Such material may include206offensive language206discriminatory treatment or language (for example on the grounds of206race206). Appropriate information should also be broadcast where it would assist in avoiding or minimising offence.

Ofcom Decision: Breach of Rule 2.3

We considered that the more general portrayal of Chris Fail was based on a stereotypical view of a black-African person. The factors that contributed to this included:

• the dark make-up apparently applied to his skin;
• the significance of his name, which we understood to be a play-on-words of the West Indian cricketer Chris Gayle;
• the tribal-style drumming played in the background when he sang and danced; and,
• the way he chanted and shouted over the tribal-style drumming.

we considered that the fact that the programme was a situation comedy with a range of fictitious characters and guests from different backgrounds did not, in itself, provide sufficient editorial justification for a stereotype of this nature to be used.

We considered that the way Chris Fail's character had been broadcast as a clearly stereotypically black-African person did not reflect the care that broadcasters should take in portraying culturally diverse people and was not editorially justified. We also considered that the likely audience of the channel, which is aimed at Pakistani people, some of whom would be living in the UK, would not have expected this portrayal.

Ofcom's Decision is that this potentially offensive material was not justified by the context and was therefore a breach of Rule 2.3.