EASTENDERS - BRITISH SOAP RAPPED OVER VIOLENT SCENE

British television regulators, who tend to view violence on television with about the same degree of disapproval as American regulators view certain sexual behavior, have ruled that the popular British soap opera EastEnders breached its rules during an episode that aired last November in which a gang vandalized a pub. "This was a persistent attack on people and property. The initial scenes of the gang running amok in the pub was a sequence of sustained violence," the regulator OFCOM said in its ruling. The scenes were particularly egregious, it said, because the program was broadcast early in the evening, "when many children are available to view television." The BBC, which broadcast the program, had broadcast a warning about its content. "Things are about to turn very ugly at The Vic [the pub]," an announcer said.

26/02/2008