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Ofcom has upheld a complaint against ITV1's Britain's Got Talent, for airing an illusionist act that viewers felt was not suitable for weekend family viewing.
Dr Gore, who appeared in the live semi-final of the show, provoked 21 viewers to complain to the regulator about his act, which included Dr Gore appearing to use a rotary saw to remove pieces of flesh from a volunteer and what looked like a large organ from his body. At this point in his act, even the three judges on the show pressed their buzzers, signalling to him to stop.
In ITV's defence, its Channel TV division said that ITV wanted to present its viewers with a "wide range of live entertainment in the programme," and that the production company reviewed his act carefully with the programme’s executive producer to determine how it could be included in the programme without upsetting younger, sensitive or impressionable viewers.
The programme’s presenters, Ant and Dec, introduced Dr Gore with the words “He has the power to make audiences feel sick in seconds” and this was followed by an edited minute-long clip of his audition. Channel TV believed that this was a comprehensive visual and verbal introduction which would give viewers the time to make an informed choice as to whether to watch Dr Gore’s performance or allow their children to see it.
Channel TV confirmed that Dr Gore’s act was toned down from what he had performed in auditions, and it believed that with an added injection of humour, the performance became one of pantomime rather than horror.
Ofcom considered the show in breach of Rule 1.3 of the Broadcasting Code which states that “Children must be protected by appropriate scheduling from material that is unsuitable for them, " and that appropriate scheduling should take into account the likely audience at that time. Audience figures suggest that more than one million children had tuned into that episode of Britain's Got Talent.
The regulator did not consider that the one minute preview clip of Dr Gore’s audition acted as a warning to viewers about the nature of Dr Gore’s act, as this clip in itself contained images that Ofcom found to be unsuitable for the time of transmission. This programme was therefore in breach of the Code.
