A top BBC boss has hinted that the broadcaster may give less airtime to royal deaths after the Beeb was inundated with complaints following Prince Philip’s death.
The broadcaster received a record number of complaints following Philip’s death, with it attracting 109,741 complaints in total.
It is the highest number ever published in the UK about television programming.
The figure beat the previous complaints records which were held by Jerry Springer: The Opera, which attracted 63,000 complaints in 2005.
Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand’s infamous call to Fawlty Towers star Andrew Sachs previously drew 42,000 complaints in 2008.
The Times reported that Director-General of the BBC Tim Davie shared viewer numbers on the night of The Duke’s death were lower than expected. BBC One and BBC Two drew in 2.6million viewers collectively.
During the meeting, which took place on April 22, which was reported by The Times on Friday, Mr Davie said the coverage “had reflected the role of the BBC as the national broadcaster”.
Minutes from the meeting continued: “The audience for the funeral coverage was very strong delivering a peak of over 13 million viewers, while viewing on the night of the announcement was lower than expected at 2.6m across BBC One and BBC Two.
“The decision to simulcast coverage across BBC One and BBC Two had resulted in a record number of complaints.
“The Executive were looking at lessons to be learned.”
Viewers of the BBC news channel and BBC radio listeners also were met with coverage of the Duke of Edinburgh’s death on April 9.
The rolling coverage resulted in the Masterchef final being delayed and the broadcaster’s flagship soap EastEnders also being delayed.
The broadcaster then set up a dedicated webpage for viewers to lodge their complaints over the Beeb’s Prince Philip’s coverage.
To stay up to date with all the latest news from Love Island, make sure you sign up to one of our newsletters here.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
