ITV rapped for daytime 'Murders'

ITV has been criticised for airing a show featuring burnt dead bodies, electrocution and a car crash at 4pm.

Ofcom said showing the Midsomer Murders episode during daytime broke rules on violence and protecting children.

The show is originally made to go out at 8pm but is repeated, after editing, in the earlier slot.

One viewer complained about an episode that aired November 8. They said that scenes including bodies being electrocuted and a man being "thrown violently through a windscreen" were unsuitable for children.

Ofcom said: "... there was a concentration of violent images in the recap, which showed a body with a severely burnt hand, an electrocution of a man in his car showing smoke emanating from the body and a couple finding a burnt hand in a field.

It added that "there was a longer sequence showing how the electrocution had been carried out, which again showed the moment of electrocution with smoke rising, and a car crash at the end with the body thrown through the windscreen and two shots of the man’s bloody face."

Channel Television, which handles compliance for ITV, pointed out there was only one complainant and said it did not believe the scenes were "explicit or gruesome".