Rowan Atkinson

TV censors at Ofcom have cleared the BBC for airing a Comic Relief sketch in which Rowan Atkinson parodied the Archbishop of Canterbury. The skit attracted almost 500 complaints to regulator Ofcom, as well as more than 2,200 to the BBC itself.

In the three minute pre-watershed broadcast, Rowan Atkinson dressed up as a generic Archbishop mentioned shagging your neighbour , arsing about , and that prayer doesn't work .

Ofcom clearly dismissed the whinges out of hand and didn't pursue a detailed investigation.

Rowan Atkinson's Archbishop of Canterbury sketch for Comic Relief is to be formally investigated by Ofcom after it drew more than 3,000 complaints.

In the three minute pre-watershed broadcast, Rowan Atkinson dressed up as a generic Archbishop mentioned shagging your neighbour , arsing about , and that prayer doesn't work .

The BBC received 2,819 complaints about its Comic Relief coverage, the majority of which centred on the Archbishop of Canterbury sketch. Ofcom heard a further 484 complaints. Three quarters raised concerns about the language used and the rest about the religious context.

TV censor Ofcom will now decide if the words 'arsing about' and 'shagging' acceptable before the 9pm watershed and whether the BBC applied generally accepted standards in its broadcast.

Ofcom will report on their decision within 50 days.

The Daily Mail has served up the usual nonsense about a few nobodies being easily offended by trivial innuendo:

Viewers' fury at explicit Comic Relief sketches aired over an hour before the watershed

Dozens have complained to the BBC after it was aired The sketches included swearing and sexual innuendo Some have vowed not to support the cause again

It was classed as a family night of comedy for charity. But while the BBC's Comic Relief evening raised millions it also prompted complaints after ill-advised sketches containing explicit sexual references were aired more than hour before the 9pm watershed.

And the cause of 'dozens of complaints' [24 perhaps!]

At 7.45pm, Rowan Atkinson, playing the Archbishop of Canterbury, told viewers that Jesus said love your neighbours but it doesn't mean shag your neighbours .

A sketch from Call the Midwife followed with a reference to a vajazzle , a type of erotic decoration used by women and popularised in the reality TV show The Only Way is Essex.

Comedian Peter Kay also sat on his arse for the charity event leading to parents complaining that their children started using the term.

John Bishop quipping that Geordies all have rottweillers.

The BBC admitted pulling the repeat of the Archbishop sketch on its iPlayer service following a surge of emails and calls complaining about the offensive language.

Tory MP John Whittingdale, chairman of the commons culture, media and sport select committee, said: I'm pleased the BBC has recognised this was a mistake and whether Ofcom decides to investigate further is a matter up to them.

Ofcom, the broadcasting watchdog, is assessing complaints before deciding what action to take [And no doubt treat them on their merits and bin them].

Update: BBC Prayers Don't Work

21st March 2013. See  article from  bbc.co.uk

The Comic Relief sketch featuring Rowan Atkinson as the Archbishop of Canterbury has drawn about 2,200 complaints to the BBC.

Atkinson - playing a fictional version of the Church leader - compared boyband One Direction to Jesus's disciples. He also claimed praying doesn't work .

Around a quarter of the complaints were specifically about religious offence, with the rest concerned with pre-watershed language.

The sketch has since been removed from the BBC's iPlayer.

The BBC received almost 3,000 complaints in total over the charity fundraising night of programming. Other complaints over the event involved another sketch involving the popular series Call The Midwife.

Update: The BBC Responds

21st March 2013. See  article from  bbc.co.uk

Complaint

We've received complaints from some viewers about the suitability of some of the content in this year's Comic Relief, with many complainants singling out sketches by Rowan Atkinson and Call the Midwife.

The BBC's response

Comic Relief night featured seven hours of live television and has become known for pushing at the boundaries of comedy alongside heartfelt appeal films. The team was faced with the difficult challenge of scheduling items so that they appealed to a varied and wide ranging audience.

Getting the language, tone and content of the evening is therefore extremely important and the team closely monitor all the audience feedback as it comes in.

It was clear from this feedback that the Rowan Atkinson sketch was problematic for a number of different reasons, with many viewers noting the subject matter, the language used and its placing early in the evening. It is clear to us that this sketch did not translate as we had hoped and as a direct result of viewer feedback we took a swift decision to remove this from BBC iPlayer.

With the Call the Midwife sketch we hoped viewers would appreciate the mix of different genres, comedy styles, (Miranda) and time travel (Doctor Who), and that it would be clear how absurd the sketch was - with the Midwife characters trying to attend to a couple in a modern-day hospital setting.

We would now like to take this opportunity to say that we are sorry that any of the above offended our viewers. This year the programme was watched by a peak audience of 12.2m and raised a record total of over £75m, and the very last thing we wanted was to take away from all of the hard work everyone put in. We will bear these issues in mind for all future events.