ITV’s Jekyll and Hyde could be too scary for Ofcom, after watchdog receives 459 complaints
Tonight’s episode of ITV show Jekyll and Hyde is bound to be filled with frights, but things have become scary off-screen too. On Thursday, TV watchdog Ofcom announced it would be launching an investigation into the show, after receiving 459 complaints.
Viewers complained that the content of the first episode of the show, which aired at 6:30pm on 25 October, was too graphic to be aired before the 9pm watershed.
Despite this, tonight’s episode of the 10-part drama is still due to be aired at 7pm.
Show writer Charlie Higson has apologised for causing distress, telling Stuart Maconie on BBC Radio 6: “I'm sorry that anyone got upset by it. It wasn't my intention to upset people by it.”
But he added: “Obviously, it was my intention for it to be scary – it's a scary show. I was expecting more people to complain that it wasn’t scary enough.”
ITV was unavailable when City PM reached out for comment. However, The Daily Mail reported that an ITV spokesperson had said that the channel “always considers carefully the content of its programming and suitability for younger audiences.”