Brass Eye - Paedophilia Special (2001)

Paedophilia Special (2001)

The series was repeated in 2001 along with a new show. It tackled paedophilia and the moral panic in parts of the British media following the death of Sarah Payne, focusing on the name-and-shame campaign of the News of the World. This included an incident in 2000 in which a paediatrician in Newport had the word 'PAEDO' daubed in yellow paint on her home.

Gary Lineker and Phil Collins endorsed a spoof charity, Nonce Sense, (pronounced "nonsense"—"nonce" is British slang for people convicted or suspected of molestation or sexual crimes), Collins saying, "I'm talking Nonce Sense!" Tomorrow's World presenter Philippa Forrester and ITN reporter Nicholas Owen were tricked into explaining the details of HOECS (pronounced "hoax") computer games, which online paedophiles were using to abuse children via the Internet. Capital Radio DJ Neil "Doctor" Fox told viewers that "paedophiles have more genes in common with crabs than they do with you and me", adding "Now that is scientific fact — there's no real evidence for it — but it is scientific fact".

Lineker described paedophile text slang, claiming "BALTIMORA" translates to "literally, I'm running at them now with my trousers down." Labour MP Syd Rapson said paedophiles were using "an area of internet the size of Ireland". Richard Blackwood said internet paedophiles can make computer keyboards emit noxious fumes to subdue children. Blackwood sniffed a keyboard and said he smelt the fumes, which made him feel "suggestible"; Blackwood also warned watching parents that exposure to the fumes would make their children "smell like hammers".

The studio was "invaded" by a fictional militant pro-paedophile activism organisation called Milit-pede and the programme appeared to suffer a short technical disturbance. When it returned, presenter Chris Morris confronted a spokesman, Gerard Chote (played by Simon Pegg) who had been placed in a pillory. He asked if he wants sex with Morris's six-year-old son. Hesitantly, the spokesman refused, apologetically explaining "I don't fancy him". When explaining how the sequence had been filmed, Morris said the child was not present but added digitally. The scene led to a media backlash.

Around 3,000 complaints were received and politicians spoke out against Morris. Beverley Hughes described the show as "unspeakably sick" but later admitted she had not seen it, and David Blunkett said he was "dismayed" by it. It later emerged that he also had not seen the episode, because he is blind. Tessa Jowell, after watching, asked the Independent Television Commission to reinstate censorship to ban similar programmes. There was also a tabloid campaign against Morris, who refused to discuss the issue.

The Daily Star decried Morris and the show, placing the story next to a separate article about the 15-year-old singer Charlotte Church's breasts under the headline "She's a big girl now" and using the words "looking chest swell". The Daily Mail pictured Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, who were 13 and 11, in their bikinis next to a headline describing Brass Eye as "Unspeakably Sick". Defenders of the show argued that media reaction to the show reinforced its satire of the media's hysteria and hypocrisy on the subject of paedophilia.

The episode won a Broadcast magazine award in 2002.