Watchdog rejects Fantasy Football complaints

Frank Skinner and David Baddiel have been cleared by broadcasting watchdogs, despite attracting 63 complaints for their Fantasy Football show.

Most outrage was caused by a sketch featuring the duo dressed as Sven and Nancy having sex in the changing rooms while England were losing  to France.

The 45 viewers who contacted Ofcom felt the images were too explicit,  particularly as the ITV1 programme followed the England game on June 13,  and some children would have been allowed to stay up.

Another eight people complained when, two days later, Baddiel joked that as a Jew he was “already frightened” when  he discovered that there were Germans in the audience.

They said the Holocaust was no joking matter, and that it was racist to suggest that Germans were anti-Semitic. Some also said they were offended that this type of xenophobic sentiment was linked to supporting the England team.

The third item to cause offence was on June 27, when ten viewers complained about a Phoenix From The Flames item in which Ray Houghton had to ‘prove’ he was Irish, which they thought promoted stereotypes – particularly with the inclusion of a gunman figure.

Makers Channel TV argued that viewers would have known what too expect from the show, including the sort of banter than generated the complaints.

They said that in the Sven and Nancy sketch, both Skinner and Baddiel  were decently clothed, and the effect was “ludicrous rather than lewd or erotic”. Ofcom agreed.

Channel also said it “regretted any distress caused to viewers who did not find the humour of the Ray Houghton sketch to their taste” but again underlined the fact that no malice was intended.  The paramilitary figure was played by the programme’s producer, a Dubliner.

Ofcom said: “Although we  acknowledge that the humour would not be shared by all  viewers, we believe that it was not intended to be malicious  or offensive.”

Published: 4 Oct 2004