Swish television-show hostess and property booster Kirstie Allsop has unwittingly tiptoed over Channel 4’s acceptability threshold:
“Just been told I can’t say ‘for god’s sake!’ or ‘Christ almighty’ on TV (& it’s channel 4!!),” the presenter wrote on her Twitter web page. “I am so sick of compliance I could scream! Aah!”
People may well be divided on the subject of swearing on TV, but as Michael Gove points out in the Times Channel 4 are guilty of inconsistency to say the least:
Coming from the station that gave us Something for the Weekend, in which children had to guess their parents’ sex secrets, Embarrassing Bodies, of which the less said the better, and an Alternative Christmas Message from the world’s most prestigious Holocaust denier, it might seem a little odd to come over all bashful now.
Quite.
Here’s a short guide for bemused readers who might one day appear on Britain’s most ‘alternative’ television channel and don’t want to commit an embarassing faux pas:
1. Mild cursing using religious references – Totally and utterly unacceptable, you should feel thoroughly ashamed of yourself. Don’t you know children or easily-influenced people could see this and copy it? Tut!
2. Using the full resources of a theocratic state to promote Holocaust denial – I’ll just check with the controller…erm, it seeems that will be okay Mr Ahmadinejad, just be careful how you phrase it . We’ll put you on instead of the Queen.
