The most complained about TV moments of all time have been revealed...
and the list includes Good Morning Britain , Celebrity Big Brother and Britain’s Got Talent . Every fortnight, media watchdog Ofcom publishes a breakdown of the latest complaints it has received from viewers about various TV shows, with all complaints assessed against the Broadcasting Code to determine if an investigation is warranted. In 2023, the organisation received just under 70,000 complaints in total, following 36,500 the previous year, and 173,000 in 2021.
Now, Ofcom has published the 500th edition of its Broadcast Bulletin – and to mark the milestone, they’ve revealed which programmes have received the most complaints since its inception in 2003. At the very top of the list as the most-complained about TV moment is Good Morning Britain , clocking up 54,595 complaints for the episode that aired on March 8 2021, when there was a discussion about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey. At the time, former GMB host Piers Morgan sparked huge backlash for saying that he ‘didn’t believe’ Meghan’s claim that she suffered from suicidal thoughts.
However, Ofcom didn’t find that the programme broke broadcasting rules, adding: ‘We reminded ITV of the need to take greater care around content discussing mental health and suicide in future.’ In second place is an episode of Celebrity Big Brother which aired in 2007, which garnered more than 45,000 complaints .