269 viewers complained the comedy was offensive to the police

Broadcast regulator Ofcom is to take no further action against ITV comedy Piglets, despite receiving 269 complaints it was offensive.

The show’s title was branded offensive when it launched in July, with the Police Federation saying it was ‘disgusting.’

Acting chair Tiffany Lynch, said the name of the show was ‘inflammatory against a landscape of rising threats and violence against officers’ and was putting officers ‘at further risk for viewing numbers’.

The federation, which represents more than 145,000 rank-and-file officers in England and Wales, called for ITV to scrap the title.

In its regular update on complaints issued today, Ofcom revealed it had received 269 complaints that the comedy breached ‘generally accepted standards’. 

A spokesperson for the watchdog confirmed to Chortle that they ‘alleged that the programme’s title and content were disrespectful to the police force’. However, after assessment, the watchdog ruled that the complaints would not be pursued.

As well as the Police Federation, several people took to social media to say they would be complaining to the regulator when the programme launched.

One said: ‘I served for 27 years and was called a "Pig" on several occasions when trying to protect the public. This is insulting to both serving and retired officers.  Shame on you.’

And after added: ’This is absolutely disgraceful, using the term "piglets" as the show’s name is diabolical. Officers on a day-to-day basis have to go through abuse from members of the public using terminology similar the title. For you to think this is acceptable is beyond me.’

When the complaints were first raised, a show spokesman said: ‘Piglets is a fictional new comedy about a police training academy and the title is not intended to cause any offence, it's a comedic and endearing play on words to emphasise the innocence and youth of our young trainees.’

Piglets was the second most complained-about show in the period covered by Ofcom’s latest bulletin, after the episode of Good Morning Britain in which Ed Balls interviewed his wife, the Home Secretary Yvette Cooper. That attracted a mammoth 16,812 complaints that ITV had broken its commitment to impartiality. They, too, will not be taken any further.

Before Piglets launched, Lynch said the show was ‘highly offensive to police officers risking their lives to protect the public every day’.

She added: 'It is a disgusting choice of language to use for the title of a TV programme. I find it incredulous that this has passed through checks and balances at an organisation made up of people who at any time have or may need the support and assistance of the police.

‘Our colleagues are working hard and keeping people safe under relentless negative pressure at the moment, insulting our new in service officers is unhelpful.

‘The name of this show is also inflammatory against a landscape of rising threats and violence against officers. We should not be put at further risk for viewing numbers, our officers deserve respect not humiliation for the job they are undertaking.

‘It is actually incredibly dangerous to incite more negativity and misinformation against a public sector service that’s already under so much pressure.’

And the federation’s chief executive Mukund Krishn added: ‘The programme’s title is an insult to our brave and hard-working members. 

‘At a time when the service is fighting to attract and retain officers, ITV’s actions are totally undermining. The federation will be writing to Ofcom and ITV to register its disgust and demanding a change.’

Piglet starred Mark Heap and Sarah Parish as officers in charge of new recruits at a fictional police training college.

The show divided critical opinion attracting reviews ranging form one star  (The Evening Standard, which called the humour ‘depressingly predictable and also just plain depressing’), two stars from The Independent, The i and The Daily Telegraph, three stars from The Guardian and four stars from The Times and Chortle.

It was produced by Green Wing creator Victoria Pile and written by the same team behind the Channel 4 hospital comedy: Robert Harley, James Henry, Oriane Messina, Fay Rusling and the late Richard Preddy, along with Omar Khan from ITV’s Comedy Writers Initiative.

The six-part show was inspired by the last government’s plans to recruit 20,000 new police officers, bringing numbers back up to the same level as when the Conservatives first came to power in 2010. Piglet’s premise was  that such a fast-paced recruitment drive might come at the cost of lowering standards.

The recruits were played by Callie Cooke, Sam Pote, Sukh Kaur Ojla, Halema Hussain, Abdul Sessay and Jamie Bisping, while Rebecca Humphries played head of admin Melanie and Ukweli Roach and Ricky Champ were the trainers Mike and Daz.

It is still available to stream on ITVX. 

Published: 9 Sep 2024