BBC1’s sitcom, After You’ve Gone, has been slammed by the broadcasting watchdog for airing a scene in which Nicholas Lyndhurst’s character took an overdose of painkillers, according to the PA.

The controversial scene, which showed Lyndhurst’s character Jimmy become “relaxed and mellow” after swallowing the painkillers, was aired in the early evening when children may have been watching.

In the episode, which went out in July, Jimmy was shown to be craving a biscuit but was unable to move off the sofa because of the pain from a hernia. His on-screen mother-in-law Diana then gets him a rice cake and a bottle of his painkillers, advising him to take two pills every four hours.

Jimmy was then shown swallowing two handfuls of the tablets after Diana had left the house, saying, “These are bound to have some sugar in them”.

In the following scene, the usually sensible father-of-two woke up disorientated and “under the influence of the overdose, in a mellow and relaxed mood.”

Broadcasting watchdog Ofcom investigated complaints that the overdose as it was shown was ‘unsafe’ and that the scene – in which no adverse consequences came of the overdose – meant that the BBC had been irresponsible in its broadcasting standards.

The BBC replied that Lyndhurst’s character had “scaled new heights of foolishness to his considerable embarrassment” because of the overdose, and they argued that this didn’t condone or glamourise drug use and abuse.

The corporation did however admit that the episode was “not appropriate” for young viewers and shouldn’t have been shown at 7.30pm. They added that it was originally commissioned for a slot one hour later, when fewer younger viewers would be watching.

Ofcom said it welcomed the BBC’s comments that the episode was broadcast too early and their assurance that it wouldn’t be shown in future repeats before 8.30pm.