UK TV and Radio News

manus37 tweeted:

I watched The Big Bang Theory at 12.30pm on Channel 4. They seemed to have cut out the herpes line...seems herpes is a bad word

For the record this was Series 6 Episode 01: The Date Night Variable

Scene: Penny's apartment. Penny is bleaching Amy's upper lip.

Amy: This is so exciting. Soon, my upper lip will be the same fake blonde as my beautiful best friend.

Penny: Hey, this is my natural hair colour.

...

Amy: How long does this stay on?

Penny: Just a couple of minutes. You've really never done this before?

Amy: Once in high school, but I dozed off and woke up with second-degree chemical burns on my face.

Penny: Oh, my gosh, that's awful. The other kids make fun of you?

Amy: No, I had a cover story, I told everyone it was herpes.

Comment: Utterly incomprensible

24th March 2015. From phantom

It's been going on for some time.

It is utterly incomprehensible to me why something as innocent as this sitcom would be cut, but it is happening on a daily basis. It seems any screening before the watershed has any line which is even mildly suggestive removed. The very fact that something so mild can be deemed worthy of cutting does not bode well for any other TV content.

Update: Less Cheer

27th March 2015. Thanks to Jon

UK satellite TV channel GOLD have started broadcasting the classic US comedy CHEERS, at 4pm-5pm on weekday afternoons.

Whilst episodes are not being censored for content, they are censoring the show for running-time issues, to cram in more ads.

I received a Facebook Message from GOLD this morning, that said:

We can confirm that none of the content of Cheers has been removed for compliance or censorship reasons, the only edits we have made are to reduce the episode's overall duration. Unfortunately the original episodes of Cheers are slightly too long to fit into their scheduled time slot on Gold so some material has to be edited out before broadcast. We have passed your comment on to the Gold Scheduling team. Thanks, Gold

This is complete bullshit, of course, as episodes only run between 23-25 minutes when uncut, which leaves plenty of time for ads in a 30-minute timeslot. Their editing just magically happens to cut-out mild cussing (e.g. Holy crap at the end of the pre-credits teaser from Season 1, Episode 1) and/or the pre-credits teaser sequences, which just magically disappear in full, from most of GOLD's transmitted episodes. Amazing! It's not censorship, it's magic! LOL

And when they have UK-made comedy shows, that run between 25-29 minutes in length, such as ONLY FOOLS AND HORSES, FAWLTY TOWERS, PORRIDGE, and/or MRS BROWN'S BOYS, these are always shown in 35-40 minute time-slots. It seems GOLD are flouting their own rules, depending on their mood, as and when they see fit.

Top Gear
BBC Two, 2 February 2014

On 2 February 2014 Top Gear broadcast an item comparing hatchback cars from the 1980s with their modern equivalent. The presenters each chose a car. Richard Hammond's choice was a Vauxhall Nova, which the other two presenters felt was inferior to their cars and comments were made about this in relation to Richard Hammond's lack of style. When they arrived at the motor circuit to race their cars, Jeremy Clarkson stated:

We arrived at the terrifying Shelsley Walsh Hill Climb. Germany has the Nurburgring, America has Pikes Peak, we have this. It's more than half a mile long and at the bottom of this fearsome river of tarmac we were given more details of our challenge.

Sometime later, after the other two presenters had completed the circuit, a voice-over from James May said As I pondered on that, Jeremy prepared the course for Hammond's Nova. Jeremy Clarkson was then seen putting up a placard on a wooden hut on which Pikey's Peak was written. Richard Hammond was then shown driving his car up to the start line.

The initial complaint stated that the sign had no relevance to the programme and was:

Grossly offensive and racist to a minority community, the Gypsy Traveller community. They are one of the 9 protected characteristics within the Equality Act 2010 and do not deserve to be treated like this, especially not on national TV.

The complaint was escalated through the full and long BBC complaints procedure until reaching the rarely achieved appeal to the BBC Trust, who concluded:

The Appeal Committee wish to state that it had carefully considered the case made by the complainants and the information they provided, and had accepted that the word pikey did have the potential to be deeply offensive to the Gypsy and Traveller communities, most notably when specifically attributing negative characteristics to these minority groups. The Committee was also mindful that some words, including pikey , can be used in an abusive context. The Committee therefore advised programme makers to bear in mind the potential for offence this word may have in some circumstances and advised extreme care and sensitivity when employing it in programming. Although the Committee accepted that the word pikey has evolved to have a meaning distinct from the Gypsy and Traveller communities, it nevertheless advises considerable caution in its use.

Finally the Committee noted that the complainants wanted the Editorial Guidelines to directly address the possible dual usage of the word pikey . The Committee considered that this was not necessary because the Editorial Guidelines were sufficiently clear.

Finding: not upheld

Update: Ofcom takes up the complaint

6th May 2015. See article from telegraph.co.uk

Ofcom has confirmed that it was investigating a complaint about Top Gear over the use of the word pikey .

Ofcom gets heavy with TV broadcasters. The TV censor explains (with MF emphasis added):

In Ofcom's Annual Plan 2013/2014, we committed to review how we license television and radio services and enforce general licence conditions and content standards on those services. Our aim in this work was to increase protection of audiences by: ensuring licensees are fully aware of their obligations; detecting non-compliant content and conduct more effectively; and enforcing against it robustly. We have now concluded a comprehensive review of our licensing and content standards enforcement processes. We are now implementing some changes, detailed below, to strengthen our processes. We did not conduct a consultation as part of this review as it did not involve any proposed change to our published procedures.

Content monitoring

In the past, Ofcom has generally conducted ad hoc monitoring, as required. We are now in the process of expanding our content monitoring programme to increase our ability to detect content which raises issues of potential harm to the audience. This will enable us to check whether licensees found in breach of our rules and licence conditions, and those on whom we have imposed sanctions, have improved their compliance. It will also enable us to check content broadcast on channels/stations about which we receive low numbers of complaints. Any investigations and Findings which result from our content monitoring will be published in the Broadcast Bulletin in the normal way.

Compliance investigations

Licensees are required by a condition in their licences to have sufficient compliance procedures in place to ensure compliance with Ofcom's codes and licence conditions. To detect serious and systemic compliance problems as early as possible, and therefore protect audiences from potential harm, we have implemented a new enforcement approach. In cases where we are concerned about a licensee's compliance procedures, based on its recent compliance history, we will conduct an investigation under our General procedures for investigating breaches of broadcast licences1.

'Assistance' for licence applicants and licensees

To improve the overall compliance of our licensees, we will work to actively 'assist' applicants and licensees in their understanding of their regulatory obligations.

Meetings

In addition to the meetings we already hold with existing licensees, we will be 'inviting' new licensees to meet with us. When a new licence is issued or awarded, the licensee will receive an invitation to attend a meeting with Ofcom. During the meeting we will 'offer' general support on regulatory obligations and the application of our codes, rules and licence requirements in order to provide licensees with a toolkit to devise and/or review their own compliance arrangements to ensure they are sufficiently robust.

Major League Baseball
ESPN, 3 October 2014, 20:00

ESPN is a sports television channel broadcasting a combination of live sports events and sports related programming.

During live coverage of a baseball match in America, the commentators talked very briefly about the pitcher who kept looking at a batter at first base because the batter was attempting to steal base'. This involved the batter moving back-and-forth on first base in an ungainly manner to distract the pitcher. These movements prompted one of the commentators to say:

"He [the pitcher] might be just looking at him because he looks like such a spaz".

A viewer alerted Ofcom to the reference to "spaz" in the commentary, saying that it was an offensive term to describe someone with physical disabilities.

Ofcom considered Rule 2.3:

"In applying generally accepted standards broadcasters must ensure that material which may cause offence is justified by the context, Such material may include, but is not limited to, discriminatory treatment or language (for example on the grounds of...disability...)".

ESPN apologised for any offence caused. The Licensee however said that:

the use of this word in America is not seen as offensive as it is here. As a consequence, this presents UK broadcasters, especially in relation to the coverage of live sport, difficult challenges.

ESPN explained its live coverage of Major League Baseball is via an international feed from the US host broadcaster. The Licensee said that during a live programme, if offensive language is broadcast, the US commentator would immediately apologise . However, in this case, ESPN Limited said the:

US commentator didn't (and wouldn't) apologise because the word spaz in America is largely seen as inoffensive. The Licensee said this word is used [in the USA] to describe someone who is clumsy or un-coordinated and is generally linked with that person being excessively excited or hyperactive.

Ofcom Decision: Breach of rule 2.3

Ofcom acknowledged that ESPN is an established channel broadcasting American sporting events live. Ofcom understands that, in American slang, the term spaz is largely inoffensive. We noted the Licensee's argument that the US commentator was referring solely to the player's physical awkwardness rather than making a derogatory comment about disability. However, in our view, a UK audience, even one familiar with ESPN content, would not automatically have understood the different meaning of the word in the USA and it would therefore have been capable of causing considerable offence. Further, we considered that the fact that the word had been intended to refer to physical awkwardness increased the likelihood that viewers would have assumed that the reference was linked to disability.

ESPN operates under an Ofcom UK broadcasting licence. It must therefore adhere to generally accepted standards. The Licensee must take UK audience expectations into account when transmitting material broadcast live from America. As pointed out above, the word spaz can cause considerable offence to UK viewers and listeners, and we noted that no apology to viewers was broadcast in this case.

On balance, Ofcom's view was that the use of spaz in these particular circumstances was not justified by the context and Rule 2.3 was breached.

Gypsy campaigners have lost their high court challenge over Ofcom's handling of their complaint about Channel 4's Big Fat Gypsy Wedding television programmes.

Mr Justice Ouseley on Friday dismissed a judicial review brought against the TV censor by theTraveller Movement, a group supporting 300,000 gypsies and travellers.

At a hearing in London at the end of last year, its lawyers said that Ofcom unlawfully dismissed its complaint in November 2013 after conducting a procedurally unfair investigation into accusations that the Channel 4 programmes gave a negative portrayal of Traveller communities and confirmed social prejudices in a way likely to cause harm to children in those communities. The charity had claimed that the Channel 4 broadcasts of Big Fat Gypsy Weddings and Thelma's Gypsy Girls had depicted children in a sexualised way and portrayed men and boys as feckless, violent and criminal.

An Ofcom spokesperson said: The court has agreed that Ofcom thoroughly investigated the complaints made against Big Fat Gypsy Weddings and Thelma's Gypsy Girls. We are pleased our decision was upheld.

The BBC has responded to a few whiges about the recent BAFTA awards ceremony hosted by Stephen Fry:

BAFTA,
BBC One, 8 February 2015 BBC Logo

Complaint

We received complaints from viewers unhappy with some of Stephen Fry's language while presenting the BAFTAs

Response

The BAFTAs is not a BBC event, but during our coverage of the awards ceremony we try to find a compromise between presenting the events of the night as they happened, while remaining within the expectations of the majority of the viewers at home - which saw over 5.5 million people tuning in to watch. Attitudes to strong language vary enormously and we considered very carefully how to reflect this.

Stephen, whose irreverence and style is extremely well-known to viewers, has presented the BAFTAs for several years. Any strong language was used after the watershed, and there was a presentation announcement at the start of the programme warning viewers that the broadcast would contain language of this nature.

We accept that some viewers disagreed with this approach, and this feedback has been noted.

As usual the BBC does not outline what was being complained about. But of course the Daily mail is more than happy to glory in the 'outrage':

Host Stephen Fry made a number of risqe and foul-mouthed remarks during Sunday's award ceremony, which was watched by 5.5 million viewers when it was aired on the BBC.

At one point the comedian told the audience it was pissing down with stars inside, while later he introduced Tom Cruise as Tom fucking Cruise when the Mission Impossible star came on stage to present an award.

The comedian, a regular host of the film awards, also raised eyebrows among audience members after apparently imitating scientist Stephen Hawking's electronically synthesised voice.

The BBC confirmed it had received 293 complaints about language during the show .

Evil Dead is a 2013 USA horror by Fede Alvarez.
With Jane Levy, Shiloh Fernandez, Jessica Lucas.

An extended version of Evil Dead, the 2013 remake, has just been broadcast by Channel 4.

This unheralded version has sparked interest on forums, but is something of a puzzle. The version featured about 4 minutes of additional material and seemed complete in terms of violence. This rather disproves theories about it being a US TV version. It is a common pattern for US TV to add in deleted material to replace or compensate for the cutting of any sex and violence.

Director Fede Avarez has been asked about the current extended version but wasn't able to throw any light on the matter.

Before the release of the original release of the film the director spoke of brief cuts to achieve a US R rating and also of the possibility of an extended version. But shortly before the premiere, Alvarez proclaimed that the Theatrical Version was his Director's Cut and no more was heard of an alternative version...until now.

The Islamists who committed the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris should be not be described as terrorists by the BBC, a senior executive at the corporation has said.

Tarik Kafala, the head of BBC Arabic, said the term terrorist was too loaded to describe the actions of the men who killed 12 people in the attack on the French satirical magazine. Kafala told The Independent :

We try to avoid describing anyone as a terrorist or an act as being terrorist. What we try to do is to say that 'two men killed 12 people in an attack on the office of a satirical magazine'. That's enough, we know what that means and what it is.

Terrorism is such a loaded word. The UN has been struggling for more than a decade to define the word and they can't. It is very difficult to. We know what political violence is, we know what murder, bombings and shootings are and we describe them. That's much more revealing, we believe, than using a word like terrorist which people will see as value-laden.

Kafala's are in line with the BBC's editorial guidelines on reporting terrorism. The guidelines state:

[The BBC] does not ban the use of the word. However, we do ask that careful thought is given to its use by a BBC voice. There are ways of conveying the full horror and human consequences of acts of terror without using the word 'terrorist' to describe the perpetrators.

The value judgements frequently implicit in the use of the words 'terrorist' or 'terrorist group' can create inconsistency in their use or, to audiences, raise doubts about our impartiality. It may be better to talk about an apparent act of terror or terrorism than label individuals or a group.

When reporting an attack, the BBC guidelines say it should use words which specifically describe the perpetrator such as bomber , attacker , gunman , kidnapper or militant .

[But such obvious avoidance of attributing terrorists to causes does little except emphasise that the BBC is providing a propaganda slant on the news. It just comes across as politically correct double speak].

The Hangover is a 2009 USA / Germany comedy by Todd Phillips.
Starring Zach Galifianakis, Bradley Cooper and Justin Bartha.

The Theatrical Version was cut by the BBFC for 15 rated 2009 cinema release and DVD. The Theatrical Version was passed 18 uncut for Blu-ray along with the Extended Cut. In the US the Theatrical Version is R rated whilst the Extended Cut is Unrated and appears on Blu-ray only.

The BBFC explained about the censored scene:

Over the film's end credits there are a series of still photographs showing the activities of the stag night. Three of these pictures show one character apparently having fellatio performed on him in a lift. In the version classified 15 for cinema exhibition, these images were pixilated. However in the version submitted for classification as a video recording, the images are unpixelated and contravene the BBFC's Guidelines on sex at 15 which state that sexual activity may be portrayed without strong detail . At 18 any more explicit images of sexual activity need to be justified by context and in this case the images are not particularly clear, are very brief, and illustrate in comic fashion the debauched nature of the stag night that the film focuses on.

Jane Fae writes:

Did ITV air the wrong version of a film over the New Year weekend leading to almost unprecedented images of an extreme sex act being carried on its terrestrial channels?

... Read the full article

Brian Clemens OBE was an English screenwriter and television producer, possibly best known for his work on The Avengers and The Professionals.

He wrote the original pilot episode for The Avengers in 1961and was the script editor, associate producer and main scriptwriter for The Avengers series on ITV, from 1961 to 1969.

He followed several other successes with a twist-in-the-tail anthology series Thriller (ITV 1973-1976; aka Menace), for which he wrote all the stories as well as 38 of the scripts.

Then his company created as a French/Canadian/British co-production The New Avengers (ITV 1976-1977).

His company went on to produce The Professionals on ITV, from 1977 to 1983.

He also enjoyed success in the movies. He wrote and produced for Hammer films Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde and, in 1974, wrote and directed Captain Kronos, Vampire Hunter . He also wrote the screenplays and/or stories for the feature films Operation Murder (1957), The Tell-Tale Heart (1960), Station Six-Sahara (1963), The Peking Medallion (1967), And Soon the Darkness (1970), See No Evil (1971), The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1974), The Watcher in the Woods (1980), and Highlander II: The Quickening (1991) .

The BBC got in a tangle about its own rules banning the representation of the religious character Muhammad in any shape or form , it has emerged after a Charlie Hebdo cover featured on BBC1's flagship 10pm news on Thursday.

The news bulletin featured library footage of Charlie Hebdo editor Stephane Charbonnier, who was shot and killed in Wednesday's terrorist attack on the French satirical magazine's Paris offices, holding up a special edition of the magazine four years ago featuring a cartoon of Muhammad on its front page threatening readers with a hundred lashes if you don't die laughing .

It appeared to contradict the BBC's own editorial guidelines which were coincidentally read out on BBC1's Question Time , which followed the news.

Question Time presenter David Dimbleby said: I wouldn't be doing my duty if I didn't read this out from the BBC editorial guidelines. Dimbleby quoted extensively from a section of the guidelines on the use of still photographs and images which said:

Due care and consideration must be made regarding the use of religious symbols in images which may cause offence.

The Prophet Mohammed must not be represented in any shape or form.

The BBC1 programme also tweeted a link to the BBC guidelines but the page had been censored by Friday afternoon.

The BBC then made up some bollox about the guidelines being in the process of being revised. The BBC said in a statement:

This guidance is old, out of date and does not reflect the BBC's long-standing position that programme makers have freedom to exercise their editorial judgement with the editorial policy team available to provide advice around sensitive issues on a case-by-case basis.

The guidance is currently being revised.

About 400 viewers have complained after Rita Ora, the pop star, appeared on BBC One with a plunging neckline.

The singer, known for her I Will Never Let You Down song, wore a low-cut dress with a thigh-high split as she attended the launch of BBC talent show The Voice UK . However, her most daring outfit came later in the day when she appeared on The One Show in a white trouser suit with nothing underneath the blazer.

399 people complained to the BBC. On the BBC's Points of View message board, one whinged:

Isn't it about time the BBC had a dress code? I do not want to see her boobs hanging out on a family programme. I find it quite disgraceful.

And another prude wrote: I am no prude ...BUT... found it totally inappropriate.

The BBC responded on its website:

Complaint

We received complaints from some viewers unhappy with Rita Ora's choice of attire on The One Show.

Response

The One Show allows guests to choose their own attire and pop stars often opt for something glamorous or striking. The BBC doesn't feel that Rita's outfit would be outside of most viewers' expectations, but we appreciate that tastes vary.

TV censor Ofcom has cleared the BBC of breaching broadcasting rules over a rape storyline, which prompted a few complaints.

The episode, shown in October, featured scenes from before and after the rape of Queen Vic landlady Linda Carter, played by Kellie Bright.

More than 90 people complained to Ofcom about the episode, while more than 250 complaints were made to the BBC.

Ofcom have now responded that said graphic content had been avoided and that warnings had been given to viewers. A spokesman said:

After carefully investigating complaints about this scene, Ofcom found the BBC took appropriate steps to limit offence to viewers. This included a warning before the episode and implying the assault, rather than depicting it.

Ofcom also took into account the programme's role in presenting sometimes challenging or distressing social issues.