An alcohol industry body has criticised Holby City for scenes showing two doctors downing five tequilas each.

The Portman Group, which represents drinks producers in their efforts to support sensible drinking, said the story was "a highly irresponsible portrayal of excessive and rapid drinking".

It has complained to Ofcom and to the BBC, saying the downside of drinking so much should have been shown.

The Portman Group is next year due to stop its members using rapid or "down-in-one drinking" in their adverts.

David Poley, the group's chief executive, explained: "We appreciate that programme makers want to mirror some aspects of real life but they should avoid the encouragement of harmful, rapid and excessive drinking.

"We would not advocate censorship, nor deny that storylines of alcohol misuse can be used to good and positive effect. But in this case, the characters drank far too much and the harmful consequences were not shown.

"There are strict controls on alcohol advertising and marketing but the impact of these rules is being diluted by irresponsible programming."