Complaints over I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue's 'sexist' innuendo

For 30 years, the lovely Samantha has sat on the right hand of the chairman of Radio 4's I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue.

But now it has been revealed that the innuendos regarding the fictional score-keeper's extracurricular activities have been investigated at the highest levels of the BBC.

The Trust that governs the Corporation has investigated a listener's complaint that the references to the character were 'highly sexist, offensive and harmful'.. and that Samantha was only referred to as a sexual object for 'school-boy sexist so called "humour" [that was] both puerile and unfunny'

Although the Editorial Standards Committee eventually ruled against censoring the smut, the corporation's executives have looked at how to update jokes for more modern audiences.

A new report into the complaint describes how the producer initially told the listener that innuendo was 'part of the programme's tradition of wordplay and punning' popular with a large majority of listeners.

However the listener stepped up her complaint, quoting a UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women's reference to a 'boys' club sexist culture' in Britain and saying the BBC had 'failed to keep abreast of changing social attitudes'.

She also considered I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue was an 'institutionally sexist environment' which had 'encouraged sexist humour to run on unchecked in a way that … it would not have done were it not for the lack of women in the production of the show, and the inexplicable and unjustifiable lack of women performers within it.'

According to the report, correspondence from the show's producer acknowledged that a 'high-level meeting' had taken place and outlined planned changes, including booking female panellists, featuring Sven (the male equivalent of Samantha) more frequently and making sure the audience understood Samantha was a 'willing even enthusiastic participant in the liaisons' and stress that she was often the initiator in these relationships to avoid the suggestion that she was being taken advantage of.

But generally the panel considered that although smutty humour may not be to everyone's taste 'it [cannot] be regarded as so offensive that it should not be broadcast.

Earlier this year Tim Brooke-Taylor revealed last week that he, host Jack Dee and other Clue regulars had considered quitting the 61st series of the show after the BBC threatened to tone down the innuendo used to describe Samantha's extra-curricular activities.

The character of Samantha was introduced in 1985, with original host Humphrey Lyttleton describing her exploits in his trademark deadpan.

Read some of Samantha's naughtiest moments here

Published: 2 Dec 2014