Television
Jerry Springer: The Opera was the subject of controversy when the BBC televised the musical on 8 January 2005 as part of an evening of Jerry Springer-themed programming on BBC Two. News of the screening had prompted TV standards campaigners Mediawatch to write a letter to the BBC Chairman of the BBC Governors, Michael Grade, asking him to reconsider the decision to show the musical.
On 7 January, the day before the broadcast, the BBC announced that it had received over 47,000 complaints about its plans to screen the musical – the most complaints ever received about a British television broadcast. Many commentators, including the BBC, attributed such a high volume of complaints to an orchestrated campaign by various Christian groups. Supporters of the BBC's broadcasting of the show pointed out that the supposedly blasphemous content was clearly presented as a fantasy in the mind of the dying central character and was not intended to be a serious comment on Christ or Christian theology. John Beyer, chairman of Mediawatch-UK, argued that the BBC should shoulder much of the blame for the campaign against the musical since they had promoted the musical as "pushing back the boundaries of taste" and "controversial" when it had never been intended to offend the groups who campaigned against it.
In November 2005, a DVD of the show was made available in the UK. However, because of complaints by customers, Sainsbury's and Woolworths decided to stop selling the DVD. Many blogs and Liberal Democrat MP, Lynne Featherstone condemned the action from the stores as being corporate censorship, something which both retailers deny. Most other retailers continue to stock the DVD.
On the DVD's commentary, it was stated that it would not be possible to tour the show in the UK due to pressure from religious groups, but since the release of the DVD, the UK Tour 2006 went forward. The DVD commentary also stated that Stewart Lee was unhappy with an unscripted action by Alison Jiear. In the "Adam and Eve and Mary" scene in Act II, Jiear runs her hand under Jesus's loincloth, prompting a surprised look from Leon Craig, the actor playing Jesus. Lee said, on the commentary, "I wish she hadn't done that".
Read more about this topic: Jerry Springer: The Opera
Famous quotes containing the word television:
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