New complaint to BBC Trust

Olympic gold medalist Rebecca Adlington says Frankie Boyle was not punished enough for his ‘humiliating’ joke about her – and has called on the BBC Trust to take further action.

The swimmer was apparently unaware of his Mock The Week gag until the media published reports about the complaints – but now she has said Boyle was given only a ‘slap on the wrist’.

Although the corporation’s watchdogs censured the comic, saying the joke was unfair and offensive, Boyle was unrepentant.

Her agent Rob Woodhouse told the Sunday Telegrpah: ‘Frankie Boyle has made it very clear that he doesn't care what the BBC Trust says or does.

‘From our perspective the follow-up comments that he made this week are probably worse than his original remarks. He has clearly realised that this episode is a chance to keep his face in the papers and get his name out there.’

A representative for the swimmer has now written to the BBC Trust to question their handling of the issue.

Boyle originally joked that the Olympian looked like ‘someone who's looking at themselves in the back of a spoon’ adding: ‘Did you see her boyfriend? He was really attractive.... So from that I have deduced that Rebecca Adlington is very dirty – I mean if you just take into account how long she can hold her breath…’

Last week the 37-year-old Glaswegian shrugged off the Trust's ruling, saying: ‘Who are these people? What authority do they have to judge comedy?’

He blamed Mock The Week’s producers for requesting jokes about trivia rather than the real issues, complaining: ‘We’re fighting two wars, there’s swine flu and the global economy is going down the toilet. People expect you to talk about this - and what do the production team send us? A picture of Rebecca Adlington.’

Boyle also accused the BBC of being afraid of causing any sort of offence in comedy.

Published: 1 Nov 2009