UK TV and Radio News

A four-part TV series set inside the British porn industry is now expected to see its premiere in October.

Adult Material, had originally been set to debut on Britain's commercial Channel 4 network in March. However it seems that viewers at that time were more interested in watching coronavirus news than late night erotic fare, so the programme was postponed.

The series stars British actress Hayley Squires as Jolene Dollar, who is a mother of three and seasoned pro in the sex movie industry.

According to The Sun , the series reveals that due to an abundance of free sex content now found on the internet, the creators of the films need to deliver increasingly extreme images to persuade people to pay. And Adult Material does not shy away from depicting such graphic images.

Adult Material begins Monday 5th October at 10pm on Channel 4.

About a month ago Sky Atlantic started showing adult content during daytime but with PIN protection.

Sky Atlantic channel had broadcast:

• THE WIRE at Noon, in daily double-bills
• THE SOPRANOS in daily double-bills at 4:35pm
• GAME OF THRONES was shown at 7:45pm.

The EPG warned of each show containing strong language/mature content.

But now Sky Atlantic has dropped all of its PIN-coded daytime programming, and has returned back to regular, safe, daytime programming instead. So, away goes THE WIRE, RIVIERA, and THE SOPRANOS, and back comes CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATIONS, BLUE BLOODS and ELEMENTARY - all of which are either cut or rendered family-friendly.

Seems the PIN-coding experiment wasn't worth it for Sky.

Update: Daytime Donovan

17th September 2020. Thanks to Jon

Sky Atlantic are starting their pre-watershed, PIN-encoded daytime showings again, but with one show only, RAY DONOVAN at 9:50am each weekday only.

I have no idea what Sky schedulers are playing at!

If anyone has any idea what Sky is up to, let us know via comments on Facebook

Update: Resumed

6th October 2020. Thanks to Jon

Sky Atlantic are going back to PIN-coded programming again.

This week it's daily double-bills of TWIN PEAKS (the 2019 Season) at 10am, followed by RIVIERA, THE LEFTOVERS , and EUPHORIA , all showing before 9pm.

Sky Comedy (EPG 113) is also doing one PIN-encoded show at 10am daily, of DIVORCE .

The BBC received complaints about a joke on Frankie Boyle's New World Order where a black comedian, Sophie Duker, jokingly supported the idea of 'killing whitey'.

In a segment where the panelists discuss if the movement glosses over the complexities of a world where we all need to come together and kill whitey, Boyle played a clip of black author James Baldwin talking about black power in an interview on the Dick Cavett Show in the 1970s.

Responding to the clip, Duker said white power is Trump Tower - a nod to Left-wing allegations that the US President is a racist.

She continued: But when we say we want to kill whitey, we don't really mean we want to kill whitey. Duker then quips to the panelists we do to roars of laughter.

The BBC has now responded on its website to the complaints, as always without explaining what the complaints were about. The BBC wrote:

We received complaints from people who felt comments made during the programme were offensive.

Our response

Frankie Boyle's New World Order was shown after 10pm and its content is within audience expectations for a post-watershed, topical, satirical programme from a comedian whose style and tone are well-established.

Every week on the show Frankie puts forward a number of topics for debate, this episode was no different. The panellists' comments were in response to a motion that was written and presented in line with the programme's tone and style.

Sophie Duker is a talented comedian and a regular panellist on Frankie Boyle's New World Order, and we look forward to continue working with her at the BBC.

Update: Another joke

28th September 2020. See article from irishmirror.ie

Frankie Boyle defended by BBC after Priti Patel joke sparks a few more complaints.

The comedian joked that the Home Secretary is the one woman in Britain who can orgasm by imagining a slow puncture at sea in reference to the refugee crisis

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER has recently been airing late at night on E4. A couple of episodes were cut for DVD release and so it is interesting to compare these with what is being shown by E4 in 2020.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 3: Dead Man's Party is an episode of the action horror TV series  by James Whitmore Jr.
Starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, Nicholas Brendon and Alyson Hannigan.

Cut by the BBFC for 12 rated 2000 DVD. Uncut on US and UK TV.

In Dead Man's Party, at around the 35m mark, Giles (played by Anthony Stewart Head) is in his car. He is trapped by marauding zombies and his car keys are outside on the road, dropped after a tussle with one of the zombies. So in order to flee, Giles hotwires his own car. The BBFC cut about 2s to remove the hotwiring moment (when Giles pulls-out the wires from underneath the glove box, and touches them together to start the car's engine).

The DVD removes this, but E4 are showing the uncut original broadcast version. I also believe a head-butt has been removed from the DVD edition, but this also remains in the E4 broadcast edition.
 

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 6: Bargaining: Part 1  is an episode of the action horror TV series  by David Grossman.
Starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, Nicholas Brendon and Emma Caulfield Ford.

Pre-cut prior to be passed 12 without BBFC cuts for 12 rated 2003 DVD. Uncut in the US.  

In Bargaining - Part One, at around the 30m mark, Willow (Alyson Hannigan) is preparing a magic spell in a field, and a fawn walks onto screen. She grabs it, stabs it and bleeds it out. The UK DVD editions were pre-cut by Fox, who presumably felt it better that they cut the scene entirely, rather than have the BBFC potentially risk asking them to remove stuff.

On the DVD you see the fawn being grabbed, and Willow suddenly grabbing and thrusting a dagger that lies to her left (screen-right), but whilst you see the fawn struggle before dying, you don't see the actual mutilation of it. There is then a noticeable audible jump, and we see Willow conclude the spell, with blood all over her hands.

Now with E4, it's a hybrid version that is being broadcast. The scene is uncut, in that there are no audio jumps - as it was originally intended and broadcast, however, once Willow grabs the dagger and thrusts it, the image has been ever-so-slightly reframed, and zoomed-in, so you can see just moments of the fan thrashing about (its head pops into the bottom part of the screen a couple of times), but the not sight of the dagger actually killing it, nor it dying from the wound, and nor then the sight of the dead carcass. Then when the scene changes to Willow with blood on her hands, the framing is back to how it should be.
 

E4 vs Fox

Whilst these episodes have aired late at night, after 23:00, its interesting that they are leaving some moments uncut, but not others. I wonder if its E4 who have made the hybrid edit from Becoming - Part One or whether Fox has now decided the sight of a beloved character killing and mutilating a baby deer was just inappropriate and too distasteful, and have now -themselves - re-edited the offending killing, to soften what was a very shocking and brutal moment?
 

Aspect Ratios

The US DVD releases are uncut, and in 4:3. The UK, and Australian DVD releases, and the E4 versions, are all in 16:9 (1.78:1 ratio), as were the original UK BBC2 broadcasts, from back in the day. (BBC2 aired this episode uncut, well after 23:00 hours, if memory serves!)

Whether any new DVD or Blu-Ray releases would now be in 4:3 or 16:9, and feature the original uncut version, the hybrid E4 version, or an even more toned-down edition of this scene, I guess we'll never truly know. (Joss Whedon, the show's creator, wants the show to only be seen in 4:3, across all episodes. Europe and modern-TV channels, want the show in 16:9, so there's been a consistent battle between him, the fans and TV networks, over which version is the correct one, and there are lengthy debates online as to which is best and who is right.)

Also, despite Seasons 1, 2 and 3 all airing in 4:3, and Seasons 4, 5, 6, and 7 in 16:9, which is how BBC2 aired them and which the UK and Australian DVD's replicate the US releases are all in 4:3. E4, however, have broadcast all episodes and all Seasons in 16:9 (and the first two Seasons especially, don't look very well-framed, as people's heads are tightly framed, tops of heads have been cut-off, and everything just looks awkward and zoomed-in).

The Great British Bake Off has returned for another run, but this time with comedian Matt Lucas.

But it seems that a Matt Lucas joke has prompted a few worthless complaints to TV censor Ofcom.

Ofcom has said that about 200 people complained about a light hearted sketch about Boris Johnson addressing a coronavirus press conference from behind a podium bearing the message: Stay Alert, Protect Cake, Save Loaves.

An spokesperson said: We are assessing these complaints against our broadcasting rules, but are yet to decide whether or not to investigate. This is Ofcom speak for the complaints already being thrown down the garbage disposal plughole.