Fresh censure for Radio 4 panel show

The episode of Radio 4 panel show Don’t Make Me Laugh that joked about the Queen’s sex life on her 90th birthday has been rapped by broadcast watchdog Ofcom.

The BBC has already apologised for the show, hosted by David Baddiel, saying the gags were a ‘serious breach’ of editorial guidelines after receiving 100 complaints. And last month Radio 4 announced that it had axed the series. 

But today the regulators have also censured the episode after 12 listeners complained about comedian panellists Russell Kane, Sara Pascoe, Omid Djalili, and Adam Hess being asked to discuss the topic:  ‘The Queen must have had sex at least four times.’

The aim of the game, which Baddiel also devised, is to speak without making the audience laugh.

Among the comments that caused offence were Kane saying: ‘Four times we have to think of republicanism as we imagine four children emerging from Her Majesty’s vulva.’

The BBC acknowledged that the programme had ‘attracted a significant number of complaints from listeners about the content and the timing’ of the show, aired on the Queen’s birthday in April.

On its website the day after the broadcast, the BBC said: ‘While BBC Radio 4 comedy is a broad church and often pushes boundaries, we would like to apologise for this broadcast of Don’t Make Me Laugh. We never intended for the scheduling of the programme to coincide with the Queen’s birthday and are sorry for the offence caused by its timing and content.’

Buckingham Palace was also alerted to the apology.

In its ruling, Ofcom said: ‘We considered that comments about the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh were made in a mocking way, which would have been perceived by many listeners as humiliating and intrusive. 

‘Ofcom took into account that the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh are public figures with wide exposure in the media. Nonetheless, we considered that the mocking and demeaning tone of these comments made them capable of causing offence. ‘

They added that the timing would have ‘considerably increased’ the level of offence for many listeners, adding that some would have considered the timing of the prerecorded show as ‘deliberate and not the result of for

example an inadvertent misjudgement made during a live programme.’

Ofcom concluded that the episode breached the broadcasting code concerning offensive material.

Published: 21 Nov 2016