Ofcom have revealed their most complained about TV shows and TV moments of 2021.
Complaints to the media watchdog increased by 124% this year, with just five shows making up 80% of the complaints.
Good Morning Britain received the most complaints overall with 62,580. Piers Morgan’s controversial comments about Meghan Markle and Prince Harry was the most complained about moment from the show’s year on air with 54,595 complaints.
The morning chat show also received a further 3,249 complaints after he asked co-host Charlotte Hawkins to stand up so he could see her skirt.
He then went on to clash with another presenter Alex Beresford over Meghan and Harry’s Oprah interview, leading to Piers storming off set live on-air.
GMB received 2,632 more complaints over Dr Hilary Jones’s criticism of a fake COVID leaflet, which host Richard Madeley then tore it up.
There were another 2,104 complaints about a Good Morning Britain segment titled: “Ditching unvaccinated friends?”
Love Island was the second most complained about show in 2021, with Ofcom receiving 24,921 complaints over Faye Winter’s explosive argument with Teddy Soares.
The 26-year-old erupted at her beau in the villa, calling him a “p****” and telling him to “f*** off”, after she saw a video of him in Casa Amor telling Clarisse Juliette he found her “sexually attractive”.
There was a further 4,337 complaints about the “misleading” postcard the girls in the main villa were sent of the boys in Casa Amor.
A Channel 5 documentary called ‘Celebrities – What Happened To Your Face’ received 7,125 Ofcom complaints, and it was taken off air after receiving huge backlash online.
The controversial show discussed the physical appearance of stars such as Simon Cowell, Geordie Shore star Charlotte Crosby and TV personality Lizzie Cundy.
Charlotte broke down in tears on her Instagram Stories at the time the documentary was released, branding the programme “immoral and insensitive”.
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey received 6,486 Ofcom complaints.
The CBS special aired back in March, and made headlines all over the world.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex made a number of shocking claims about the Royal family during the interview, as they discussed their decision to step down as senior working royals last year.
ITV’s Lorraine received 3,769 Ofcom complaints after Dr Hilary Jones’ comments about the number of unvaccinated people in hospital, where he claimed 90% of people currently in hospital have yet to have their vaccine.
1,942 complaints were made to Ofcom about a This Morning segment called “How to lose the lockdown pounds.”
Adam Baxter, Ofcom’s director of Standards and Audience Protection, said of the complaints: “For me, these volumes demonstrate the British public’s interest and passion for TV and radio programmes, and shows just how important they are to the cultural fabric of our nation.”
“The judgments we make each day are often finely balanced – such as our highest profile case this year: Piers Morgan’s comments on Good Morning Britain in the wake of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s interview with Oprah Winfrey.”
“But, given the importance of the right to freedom of expression, we only step in or take action against a broadcaster when we consider it necessary. This year we concluded 33 investigations and recorded 20 breaches of our rules.”
“Many of these cases were about hate speech or harmful, scientifically unfounded Coronavirus misinformation,” he added.
