A CONTROVERSIAL SCENE in the BBC soap Eastenders in which two men had “implied, not explicit” sexual contact in a funeral home will not be investigated by the UK’s broadcasting watchdog.
The 17 July episode of the show prompted 68 complaints to Ofcom.
One scene saw character Ben Mitchell and Paul Coker be interrupted by a knock on the door before Ben was seen hiding under a coffin containing a dead body.
Mos of the complaints to Ofcom were about the location, not the sexuality of the two characters, and they alleged that the scene breached “generally accepted standards”.
The BBC had defended the scene saying that there was nothing explicit in showing the half naked men in the funeral parlour.
Ofcom has today agreed, saying that the complaints did not need to be pursued because they did not raise any issues.
“Ofcom assessed a number of complaints about a storyline in these episodes and concluded they didn’t raise issues warranting further investigation,” a spokesperson for Ofcom said in a media statement.
“We found the scenes were justified in the context of a long running plot line and sexual contact between the characters was implied rather than overt.”
The Guardian reports that the BBC has not revealed how many complaints it had received itself.
There were also complaints about the scene on Twitter.
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