Ofcom Vs. Blasphemous Cooking Show



Incredibly, media watchdog Ofcom are coming down on deadly dull broadcaster ITV for mixing profanity with blasphemy. The Guardian's Matt Wells clarifies the situation.

The regulator decided it was happy for celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay to turn the air blue with "fuck and its derivatives" when tormenting his contestants on Hell's Kitchen, but "fucking Jesus" was too far. While fuck and Jesus are fine on their own, running them together causes particular offence.

"Research indicates that the combination of strong swearing coupled directly with holy names is found highly offensive by believers. Like the broadcaster, we believe that the combination of a holy name and a strong expletive could not be justified in this context," Ofcom said, censuring ITV after complaints.



The key word, it seems, was fucking - because in the same set of rulings, Ofcom decided ITV did not breach its programme code when Tanya Turner (above), the bitchiest of the Footballers' Wives bitches, exclaimed "Jesus shitting Christ" after a love rival spiked her sunscreen with a skin irritant.

It may not be obvious to most viewers, but broadcasters have strict rules for expletives. On shows such as Hell's Kitchen, which include a substantial portion of live programming and participants with a propensity for profanity, there are people employed to count the fucks.

In its defence, ITV said its "compliance" procedures on Hell's Kitchen were strong. There was a warning at the beginning of the programme, and swearing in the early parts of each ITV1 programme were bleeped, in an attempt to ease in viewers to Ramsay's style. All live broadcasts were subject to a time delay.

Ramsay's robust manner was familiar from his other TV appearances and was the subject of media comment surrounding the programme. All of this is generally enough to satisfy TV regulators who know viewers are usually most offended by the unexpected.

But ITV said the phrase "fucking Jesus" was a mistake which had "slipped through under high pressure and against very tight deadlines".

Of course, paranoia about the f-word (and lots of other fun words) is hardly exclusive to the UK, as this story from the Austin American-Statesman illustrates.

Posted: Tue - August 24, 2004 at 03:12 PM      

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