Dunblane fails to curb TV violence

Television viewers saw more than 1,000 shootings in fewer than 250 of the most violent films broadcast last year, despite the national mood of shock following the Dunblane tragedy, the National Viewers' and Listeners' Association said yesterday. While gun ownership sparked a political and social debate, it did not affect the bullets flying on the four main channels, said the association's annual report on television violence.

The report asserts that guns featured, on average, four times per film, among the 246 analysed. Most of the films were shown after the 9pm watershed and some were postponed because of the Scottish school tragedy in which 16 children and their teacher died. The most shocking scenes were said to have included a gunman killing up to 40 people in the film Django Kill and a particularly brutal stabbing in David Lynch's Wild at Heart.