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Ofcom has ruled that an episode of Casualty which aired earlier this year breached the broadcasting code.
Following the first of a two-part episode which launched season 22 of the BBC flagship medical drama, four viewers complained about "graphic and repeated imagery" of injuries transmitted in a pre-watershed time slot.
The episode - entitled 'One Extreme to Another: Part I' – centered around the aftermath of a bomb explosion at a coach station and introduced two show regulars, doctors Toby De Silva (Matthew Needham) and Ruth Winters (Georgia Taylor).
The complainants were concerned that "there was no specific warning" about the graphic nature of some of the scenes which aired just after 8.20pm. One scene depicted an arm amputation, while another saw a man whose stomach had been ripped out of his torso revealing his intestines.
In response to the complaints, the BBC commented that the "pre-transmission announcement and clear build up to the scenes would have sufficiently prepared viewers for such images" and that "the process of the arm amputation was explained to the junior doctor before it began, so giving the audience an opportunity to look away if they wished."
While appreciating that Casualty is a "well-established drama regularly shown before the watershed" and "often contains scenes of surgery", Ofcom ruled that the material was, in fact, unsuitable for children who may have been watching at the time, and therefore in breach of the broadcasting code.
The regulator stated: "While appreciating the experiences of the junior doctor were integral to the storyline, Ofcom does not accept that the repeated images of injury were sufficiently brief and limited.
"Images were shown of the intestinal injuries of one victim in four separate shots all within one minute, with one shot depicting the injuries in close-up."
It added: "In view of the duration and graphic nature of the injuries shown, the information provided before the programme was not, in Ofcom’s opinion, adequate to warn viewers about the images of the after-effects of violence broadcast in the programme."
