Celebrity Big Brother named most complained about TV show of 2018 after Roxanne Pallett controversy
Loose Women and Sky News follow close behind
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The TV shows that attracted the most complaints this year have been revealed by media watchdog Ofcom.
Topping the list is Celebrity Big Brother, which received 27,602 complaints from viewers.
The majority of these complaints are said to have been related to the controversy that saw Roxanne Pallett accuse Coronation Street’s Ryan Thomas of “punching” her during a play fight.
Former Emmerdale star Pallett eventually quit the show and apologised for getting the situation “massively wrong”. Thomas went on to win what was the final series of the long-running reality show.
Following close behind is Loose Women, which received 8,002 complaints. According to Ofcom, the majority of those were related to an interview conducted with Kim Woodburn as a guest on the talk show panel.
During her appearance, Woodburn became embroiled in an argument with Coleen Nolan and other panellists before storming off.
Ofcom said it is “investigating both programmes to determine whether potentially offensive content was editorially justified and placed into appropriate context”.
Other TV shows on the list include Love Island (fourth position with 4,192 complaints), I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! (ninth position with 335 complaints) and The X Factor in 10th position with 286 complaints.
Sky News is third on the list with 4,251 complaints, of which more than 3,000 are around alleged bias in the editing of an interview with controversial figure Tommy Robinson.
Soaps Coronation Street and Emmerdale are fifth and sixth respectively. The former received 1,098 complaints, with 214 of them relating to the David Platt male rape storyline and its subsequent aftermath.
Emmerdale received a total of 759 complaints, of which 366 relate to this year’s acid attack storyline.
Ofcom’s Tony Close, director of content standards, licensing & enforcement, said: “Viewers are as passionate about what they watch as ever, discussing programmes with their friends and family, and with other people on social media.
“They complain to us when they think programmes have fallen below the standards they expect, and we carefully assess each and every complaint we receive. This year, we’ve taken action on many occasions where programmes have fallen short of the standards required by our rules.”
Last year, the total number of complaints about radio and TV programmes was 16,068, while this year’s figure stands at almost 56,000. The increase has been driven by Celebrity Big Brother and Loose Women.
Here is the list of the 10 most complained about TV programmes of 2018:
Celebrity Big Brother – 27,602 complaints
Loose Women – 8,002
Sky News – 4,251
Love Island – 4,192
Coronation Street – 1,098
Emmerdale – 759
Good Morning Britain – 548
This Morning – 402
I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! – 335
The X Factor – 286
Additional reporting by agencies
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments