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Corrie 'torture' scenes cleared

12/03/2007

Scenes of bullying and torture in Coronation Street have been cleared by the media watchdog Ofcom as being "editorially justified" after more than 30 viewers complained.

A plotline for the programme in October last year saw teenager David Platt taunt Charlie Stubbs that he knew about an affair he was having with Maria Sutherland.

This resulted in Charlie luring David back to his flat, where he tied his hands behind his back and submerged his head into a bath full of water for a few seconds.

Viewers claimed that some of the scenes were unacceptable and inappropriately shown before the 21:00 GMT watershed. Some of the 31 complaints also said that the behaviour shown might be copied by others.

In its defence, broadcaster ITV said that the relationship between David and Charlie had been developing over a number of episodes and was well understood by viewers. It added that it had given out programme information including "Charlie has a nasty surprise for David".

In its ruling today, Ofcom said that it felt the scenes were "editorially justified".

"Although the scenes complained of were violent we concluded that overall viewers would have been sufficiently alerted to the tense relationship developing between the two characters over a number of weeks so that they were not unexpected, and they were edited in such a way that the violence was not dwelt on unduly or was inappropriate," the watchdog said.


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