Ofcom will not investigate 131 complaints

Ofcom is to take no action over complaints that Benidorm was ‘grossly offensive’ to people with cleft palates.

The broadcasting regulator received 131 complaints after charities launched a campaign against the ITV comedy this month.

The last episode of the latest series featured former Pop Idol contestant Danny Tetley, pictured, singing in the resort, prompting Joyce Temple-Savage, played by Sherrie Hewson, to say he had ‘the voice of a 13-year-old girl and a face like a dropped pie’.

Changing Faces, the national charity for people who have a disfigurement, called the comment ‘grossly offensive’.

However, Ofcom has today decided that ‘after careful assessment’ the complaints ‘did not raise issues warranting investigation’ under the code which broadcasters must follow.

Changing Faces boss James Partridge had claimed that the ‘derogatory’ comment could be ‘seriously psychologically damaging’.

In a letter to ITV chairman Sir Peter Bazalgette, he said: ‘‘Programme makers have a responsibility to ensure that their output uses only accurate, fair and sensitive depictions and portrayals of people who have a disfigurement. For the first time in several years, ITV has fallen well short of the standards that we should expect of a public broadcaster.’

The Cleft Lip and Palate Association also demanded an apology, saying: ‘Looking or sounding different is difficult enough without truly ugly comments like this making things harder.'

One parent told the charity: ‘I have spent the last 32 years supporting my daughter and trying to educate ignorant people, and you get things like this that just take you back to square one." Another remarked: ‘That’s going to be the new insult now. Fab. Good job, ITV.’

However Tetley, who has a cleft palate, seems more relaxed about the affair, telling Chortle only ‘it was great to be cast.’

At the time of the initial complaints, an ITV spokesman said: ‘Danny is a very talented performer and hugely popular on the circuit. We were thrilled to have him on the show.’

Published: 22 May 2017