Complaint
The coverage included an interview between the BBC’s Entertainment Correspondent Colin Paterson and the BAFTA nominee Andrew Scott. A viewer complained about the following exchange about another Irish actor, Barry Keoghan, recently noted for his leading role in the film Saltburn:
Colin Paterson: Do you know Barry well?
Andrew Scott: I know Barry yeah.
CP: OK. Your reaction when you first saw the naked dance scene at the end of Saltburn?
LM: No spoilers please.
AS: Ah Jeez, well listen I won’t spoil it for anybody. You know, it was great, it was great.
CP: You can spoil away.
AS: You know I won’t spoil it for anybody.
CP There is a lot of talk about prosthetics – how well do you know him?
AS: (Turns to walk away) See you guys…
The ECU considered the complaint in the light of the BBC’s Editorial Guidelines about potentially offensive content.
Outcome
The relevant Guidelines say the BBC’s right to broadcast challenging content should be balanced against the requirement to avoid unjustified offence and that
BBC output should “keep in touch with generally accepted standards”. The ECU agreed the final question on this occasion fell short of those requirements, but noted that Mr Paterson had apologised later in the programme and that the BBC subsequently issued a statement acknowledging the question was misjudged. In the ECU’s view, this sufficed to resolve the issue of complaint.
Resolved