TELEVISION / Feedback

The Full Wax, BBC1's comedy vehicle for Ruby Wax, has been the recipient of a somewhat rare censure by the Broadcasting Standards Council, for its depiction of a mentally ill person in an episode in April. The depiction had Joanna Lumley playing a woman admitted to a clinic for psychiatric treatment who is helped by Ruby Wax to relaunch her acting career. A complaint to the BSC discussed the distress the sketch would cause to anyone who had suffered from psychiatric illness. The BBC defended the programme saying it is a feature of Ruby Wax's approach that sensitive matters are tackled with 'self-serving insensitivity masquerading as concern'. Nevertheless, the BSC deemed the portrayal sufficiently realistic to cause offence and upheld the complaint.

(Photograph omitted)