Jekyll and Hyde screened by ITV at 6.30 in the evening despite violence and gore

Home Top

Kate's the star of the show: Duchess of Cambridge wears a $600 space-inspired dress as she joins William and Harry for premiere
'Being critical of Tom Cruise is being critical of Scientology itself': Leah Remini blasts Hollywood star in a preview of her blistering expose of the shadowy religion
Why fat people should be charged more to fly: It's not fair for thin people to suffer through the age of the supersize traveller
Bacon, burgers and sausages DO cause cancer and are as big a threat as cigarettes, says World Health Organisation
Mystery of the 'alien megastructure' SOLVED? Bizarre object is more likely to be a lopsided star than a Dyson sphere
Biden says he didn't run for president because he 'couldn't win', and dispels rumors that son Beau tried to convince him to run from his death bed
EXCLUSIVE: Perverted Saudi prince ordered his entire staff to strip naked at his Beverly Hills mansion's pool and said: 'I want to see some naked p****,' court papers claim
Two men shot at $1.8million Queens mansion party after organiser 'rented it from Airbnb, hired security guards and charged 200 people $25 for entry'
Tourists lost at sea as their whale-watching boat sinks: Vessel with 27 aboard goes down leaving at least five British nationals dead and one missing
'Raped' 13-year-old girl kidnaps her alleged attacker's five-year-old son and decapitates him as 'revenge' in India
Mysterious UFO called 'WTF' is on a collision course with Earth: Space junk will crash into the Indian Ocean next month
Central Asia is rocked by powerful 7.5-magnitude earthquake: Terrified men and women try to stay on their feet in astonishing video from killer quake
Man who failed paternity test for his child is shocked to discover the DNA in his sperm came from his TWIN who was 'lost' in the womb
Can't get to sleep? Avoid weekend lie-ins and DO exercise before bed: Experts bust 6 common myths to help you nod off
Economy passenger handcuffed and led off plane after she 'used business class toilet' to be sick
London to New York in half an hour? Skreemr concept could travel FIVE times faster than Concorde
Cutest video of the year? Man rescues injured fawn, fixes its broken leg and releases it into the wild - except the baby deer just doesn't want to leave his side!
GOP sees just four of its 15 candidates as electable - Trump the tops list, followed by Carson, Bush and Rubio
McDonald Trump: GOP front-runner says he ate at McDonald's last night as he parries questions about his regular-guy credentials
Donald Trump says the world would be a BETTER place if Saddam and Gaddafi were still in power
Bernie Sanders laughs at the suggestion that he's a sexist for saying that Hillary Clinton was 'shouting about gun violence'
Chris Christie is 'kicked out' of Amtrak quiet car for talking too loudly on his phone while clutching McDonald's strawberry smoothie
New poll has Carson TIED with Trump in Iowa, as two other polls have Carson pulling ahead - and sending The Donald into a snit
Outrage at Alabama fifth grade teacher's black face 'Kanye West' Halloween costume

Ofcom has received more than 200 complaints about the decision
Many children were still watching television when the show was broadcast
Parents expressed their anger over the early transmission time on ITV
A scene featured a small girl hit by a truck, another had torture and murder
One viewed claimed the show was 'just too much and too full-on nasty'

By Tim Lamden and Josh White For The Daily Mail and Martin Robinson for MailOnline

Published: 19:00 EST, 25 October 2015 | Updated: 07:34 EST, 26 October 2015

385

View
comments

ITV is demanding anyone who wants to watch its controversial drama Jekyll and Hyde on its catch-up service must be 18 - despite showing it at 6.30pm last night.

Shocked parents protested at the horrific scenes shown in the channel's latest big-budget drama last night and Ofcom may investigate after 500 people complained to them and ITV.

The first episode of the new series was shown hours before the 9pm watershed, at a time when many children would be watching.

Now it has emerged that despite deeming it fit for a 6.30pm Sunday slot, ITV demands anyone watching on ITV Player must be 18 because it has scenes 'younger children will find scary'.

Scroll down for video

Gory: Jekyll and Hyde was broadcast at 6.30pm on ITV and featured scenes not suitable for smaller children

Warning: Despite being deemed suitable for a Sunday early eveing slot people using ITV Player are asked to confirm they are 18

Twitter users expressed their reservations about the timing of the controversial new television show

Some people loved the show, but questioned whether it should have been broadcast at 6.30pm

An Ofcom spokesman said: 'Ofcom has received 212 [complaints] about Jekyll and Hyde, which aired on ITV on Sunday. We will assess these complaints before deciding whether to investigate or not.'

In defiance of the broadcasting rules designed to protect younger viewers, the programme featured disturbing monsters, torture and murder – including one scene where a small girl was hit by a truck and had her neck stamped on.

Viewers took to social media to voice their dismay at such graphic images being shown so early in the evening.

Stark: ITV Player has this message for viewers who are considering watching the show

The new ten-part series, which stars Tom Bateman and Richard E Grant, is loosely based on the short story The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, published in 1886 by Robert Louis Stevenson.

In the adaptation, the action has been updated to 1930s London and sees Dr Jekyll's grandson trying to find out the truth about his past.

Within five minutes, a man is beaten to death in the street, and a girl run over only for the show's 'hero' to stamp on her neck.

After last night's 46-minute episode, one mother posted: 'Very disappointed ITV thought it was ok to show this programme before 9pm. Not a happy parent.'

One person described the show as 'just too much and too full-on nasty' for the time bracket

A second viewer said: 'Erm. #JekyllandHyde seems very good but a 6.30pm time slot? REALLY? I'm terrified! Totally unsuitable, the watershed exists for a reason.'

Another social media user added: 'I see ITV is pushing the boundaries of pre-watershed TV with this new series if the opening is anything to be judged by.'

Last week Charlie Higson, the writer of the drama, shocked many when asked what he thought about parents who may be worried about the content of his new show.

He said: 'Kids love horror, they love gore and death and violence and monsters and all that stuff.

'Some of the parents might get a little upset and some of the smaller kids but you know, **** them.'

The father-of-three, 57, later tried to rein in his views and claimed that because children are now exposed to so much graphic content on the internet, TV has to become more extreme to keep up.

He also said his initial vision was toned down by ITV bosses at both the script and filming stage.

However, ITV could still be questioned by Ofcom over its decision to broadcast the show in the pre-watershed slot.

The regulator investigates broadcasters if it considers that a programme may have breached its Broadcasting Code, which says that violent scenes 'must not be broadcast before the watershed... unless there is editorial justification'. The watchdog can fine broadcasters millions of pounds if they are found to have breached the code.

An ITV spokesman said: 'ITV issued a warning before the transmission of Jekyll and Hyde advising parents that it included some violence and scenes that younger children may find scary.'

Ofcom last night did not issue an immediate comment.

Showing this at teatime was simply callous: CHRISTOPHER STEVENS reviews Jekyll and Hyde

Jekyll and Hyde

ITV, 6.30pm

Rating:

The concept of the watershed is dead. There is no longer any point in pretending that TV executives will hold back explicit violence or scenes of terror and sadism before 9pm, to protect young children.

Jekyll And Hyde (ITV) featured shocking, nightmarish sequences that would have earned any Hollywood film an 18 certificate only a generation ago.

These included a middle-aged couple being bound and tortured in their home, and left to burn to death with the unconscious body of their teenage son beside them. The man had been shot in the stomach, and then forced to watch his wife questioned with a gun at her head.

Jekyll and Hyde featured scenes that would have earned a Hollywood film an 18 certificate a generation ago

In other scenes, a chained creature – half human, half dog – was shot dead by gangsters as it snarled and frothed.

A man in a top hat was clubbed to a pulp, a hotel-keeper was pinned to the wall by his throat, and the story's depraved 'hero' was brutally stabbed: we got a close-up of the knife's massive haft embedded in his back.

All this was not merely shown before the 9pm watershed. It started at 6.30pm, following the afternoon rugby, in a slot once reserved for religious shows such as Sir Harry Secombe's Highway. Highway belongs to a forgotten time. When Jekyll And Hyde's writer, former Fast Show comedian Charlie Higson, was challenged last week over the relentless violence, he claimed even small children had been desensitised by graphic content on the internet.

Asked what he would say to parents of youngsters who were traumatised by the show, he answered, '**** them'.

The man is an idiot and a disgrace. He's a disgrace because he has no sense of responsibility to his audience and an idiot because, by allowing it to be shown so early in the evening, he has wrecked his own show.

This comic-book fantasy about a superhero held hostage by his darkest urges could have screened after 9pm, and been appreciated for all its good points – the stylised action, sumptuous sets, riproaring plot, inventive monsters and diabolical villains.

The storyline took Robert Louis Stevenson's classic fantasy novel and updated it from Victorian London to the Thirties. Filled with lurid colour and gorgeous clothes, it looked like an Hercule Poirot mystery imagined by Stephen King. Tom Bateman was having huge fun with his double role, as the clean-cut young medic, and the drooling madman who started a bar brawl with 50 drunken sailors just to pass the time.

At 9pm, parents could watch it, and decide whether their children would enjoy it. Some bold young viewers might, of course, but as an experienced father I know for certain that other small children will have been seriously upset.

Allowing little ones, aged eight and under, who could easily be watching unsupervised at 6.30pm, to see those scenes and perhaps suffer nightmares for months was so utterly inappropriate and callous that it is impossible to give Jekyll And Hyde any star rating at all.

Better than showing it at teatime would be not to broadcast it at all.