February 25th, 2009 by Lynn Rowlands-Connolly. Tags: BBC, CBeebies, Cerrie Burnell, Complaints, Mrs Angry, News

Without doubt, the fact that Cerrie Burnell – who has a deformed arm and is missing a hand – has prompted complaints to be made to the BBC claiming that she’s “frightening” children is SO ridiculous, it’s hard to find sufficient adjectives; ludicrous, ridiculous, preposterous, absurd… I could go on ad infinitum; the whole thing is truly pathetic but perhaps the most fitting might be ‘outrageous’.

Cerrie, who co-presents Cbeebies ‘Do And Discover’ with Alex Winters, has been accused of causing young children “sleep problems” – one assumes in the form of nightmares – and apparently, parents find it unpalatable to have to discuss disability with their children “before they are ready to hear it” according to the BBC news website.
Well boohoo and tough t*t! Guess what? Not everyone’s born ‘perfect’. Does it make them lesser people? No. Does the fact that some people feel the need to negatively comment on it make them lesser people? Hell yes… Read more & comment »
January 24th, 2009 by Lynn Rowlands-Connolly. Tags: BBC, Complaints, Is TV Too Rude, Jonathan Maitland, Tonight

On the night of Jonathan Ross’s return to his chat show following the Andrew Sachs controversy, Tonight explored whether or not broadcasters have gone too far in stretching the boundaries of taste and decency.
Jonathan Maitland presented the show which basically consisted of having a panel of TV watchers from across the spectrum of age groups, social class etc., to whom he showed a variety of clips and asked them to ‘buzz in’ when they found something offensive. Read more & comment »
November 19th, 2008 by Lynn Rowlands-Connolly. Tags: Complaints, Emmerdale, Entertainment, ITV, OFCOM, Soaps, Television
There’s recently been a good deal of debate about the rights and wrongs of swearing and violence on TV, so we thought we’d take a look at these issues and ask your opinion on the rights and wrongs of it.

F-ing chefs
Let’s start with the issue of swearing and of course, one for whom swearing is virtually a trademark is Gordon Ramsay, who even has a show entitled, The F Word.
Gordon’s made a niche for himself in the over-populated world of TV chefs because of his constant use of the F word… but is it a bad thing?
Comedian Frank Skinner recently commented to The Sun that TV chefs swear in order to look “more manly” because they do “women’s work”. Obviously, Frank meant this in a tongue-in-cheek way, but perhaps he’s not so far off the mark.
Read more & comment »
February 28th, 2008 by Lisa McGarry. Tags: BBC, Complaints, Sport
The BBC has apologised to over 100 viewers who complained after the channel aired 12 hours of almost continuous sport on Saturday.
The sport overload began at noon on Saturday with Football Focus, continued with three Six Nations rugby matches, and ended with Match Of The Day at 11.40pm. The only break from the running sweaty men was the regular news bulletins, Anne Robinsons The Weakest Link and an episode of Out-take TV.
One viewer wrote on the BBC message board: “I am furious. Sport in the morning, Sport in the afternoon and now. Sport in the evening on Saturday night!!!!!”
Another wrote: “What the hell do we pay a fee for? … When I was a kid Saturday night was the best.
“Now what do I get? Rugby, then football. All on BBC1, all evening, great!
“Come on BBC. We need some entertainment. You’re turning into a sports channel!”
Read more & comment »