Jekyll and Hyde branded ‘too violent’ by TV watchdog

Richard E. Grant’s TV drama Jekyll and Hyde has been deemed too “violent” and “frightening” following an investigation by U.K. broadcasting authorities.
The series, based on Robert Louis Stevenson’s book Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, debuted last year (15) and the gory content prompted a flood of more than 800 complaints from U.K. viewers.
Bosses at U.K. watchdog The Office of Communications (Ofcom) received 459 complaints, and around 200 more viewers contacted broadcaster ITV to express their anger over violent scenes being screened prior to Britain’s 9pm watershed, which is designed to protect children from inappropriate content.
Ofcom executives launched an investigation and they have now concluded ITV bosses were wrong to show the programme at 6.30pm when many youngsters could be watching.
“We found this programme broke our rules requiring children to be protected from unsuitable material by appropriate scheduling,” stated the Ofcom ruling. “The cumulative effect of violent and frightening scenes made this programme – the first in the series – unsuitable for children when scheduled to start at 6.30pm on a Sunday, and without a clear warning before it started.”
“ITV notes that Ofcom said this was a ‘finely balanced’ decision on their part, and that the programme was suitable for pre-watershed transmission, but not suitable for 18.30,” adds an ITV spokeswoman. “We have taken this decision on board for future programming.”
Jekyll and Hyde was cancelled after just one series.