Celebrity Big Brother named most complained about TV show of 2018 after Roxanne Pallett controversy

Loose Women and Sky News follow close behind

The TV shows that attracted the most complaints this year have been revealed by media watchdog Ofcom.

Topping the list is Celebrity Big Brother, which received 27,602 complaints from viewers.

The majority of these complaints are said to have been related to the controversy that saw Roxanne Pallett accuse Coronation Street’s Ryan Thomas of “punching” her during a play fight.

Former Emmerdale star Pallett eventually quit the show and apologised for getting the situation “massively wrong”. Thomas went on to win what was the final series of the long-running reality show.

Following close behind is Loose Women, which received 8,002 complaints. According to Ofcom, the majority of those were related to an interview conducted with Kim Woodburn as a guest on the talk show panel.

During her appearance, Woodburn became embroiled in an argument with Coleen Nolan and other panellists before storming off.

Ofcom said it is “investigating both programmes to determine whether potentially offensive content was editorially justified and placed into appropriate context”.

Other TV shows on the list include Love Island (fourth position with 4,192 complaints), I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! (ninth position with 335 complaints) and The X Factor in 10th position with 286 complaints.

Sky News is third on the list with 4,251 complaints, of which more than 3,000 are around alleged bias in the editing of an interview with controversial figure Tommy Robinson.

Soaps Coronation Street and Emmerdale are fifth and sixth respectively. The former received 1,098 complaints, with 214 of them relating to the David Platt male rape storyline and its subsequent aftermath.

Emmerdale received a total of 759 complaints, of which 366 relate to this year’s acid attack storyline.

Ofcom’s Tony Close, director of content standards, licensing & enforcement, said: “Viewers are as passionate about what they watch as ever, discussing programmes with their friends and family, and with other people on social media.

“They complain to us when they think programmes have fallen below the standards they expect, and we carefully assess each and every complaint we receive. This year, we’ve taken action on many occasions where programmes have fallen short of the standards required by our rules.”

Last year, the total number of complaints about radio and TV programmes was 16,068, while this year’s figure stands at almost 56,000. The increase has been driven by Celebrity Big Brother and Loose Women.

Here is the list of the 10 most complained about TV programmes of 2018:

Celebrity Big Brother – 27,602 complaints

Loose Women – 8,002

Sky News – 4,251

Love Island – 4,192

Coronation Street – 1,098

Emmerdale – 759

Good Morning Britain – 548

This Morning – 402

I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! – 335

The X Factor – 286

Additional reporting by agencies