Casualty found in breach of Ofcom's broadcasting rules after major rule break

11 September 2023 , 15:14

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An episode of Casualty, which aired on UKTV Media channel Drama, was found in breach of Ofcom rules

An episode of the popular TV drama Casualty has been found in breach of Ofcom rules after offensive language appeared in its subtitles before the watershed.

The media watchdog was alerted to the issue by a complaint about the optional subtitles of a rerun of the British TV series that aired on June 12. The subtitles included two instances of the word "f**king", despite the programme's audio being free of any offensive language.

Ofcom ruled on Monday the programme had violated its rule against the use of "most offensive language on television before the watershed". The episode in question aired at 10.30am on the TV channel Drama, causing further controversy.

UKTV Media, the licence holder for Drama, admitted the episode was "incorrectly subtitled" and extended their apologies for the incident. The company also revealed the subtitling of the show is outsourced to Red Bee Media. The subtitler responsible for the error, who had not adhered to protocols, has been "disciplined and withdrawn from subtitling duties until they have been through a thorough retraining process with their line manager".

Despite providing "huge volumes of access services across our linear channels", UKTV stated that this was "the first issue of this nature UKTV has experienced".

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Both UKTV and Red Bee have taken corrective measures, implementing additional processes and training to prevent such incidents in the future. They have requested Ofcom to consider the case resolved.

In a recent ruling, the UK regulator has found UKTV in breach of rule 1.14, which prohibits offensive language before the watershed. Despite acknowledging UKTV had not previously encountered this issue and had taken steps to rectify it, Ofcom stated there were no mitigating factors such as an on-air apology.

A spokesperson from UKTV responded to the ruling, stating: "This subtitling error occurred due to human error and we apologise for any offence caused. We have comprehensive guidance in place which has been reshared with the subtitling team."

The spokesperson further emphasised UKTV's commitment to its viewers, saying, "We take our commitment to providing subtitling for our viewers extremely seriously and we continue to exceed the required quota for subtitling and audio description on our channels."

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PA Senior Entertainment Reporter