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Maureen Lyons
10th May 02
I was horrified to read in my tv guide for the coming
week that a repeat of the Brass Eye paedophilia programme has been
scheduled for Monday. Who exactly will be wanting to watch this? I
think channel 4 should rescheule or risk losing many upset viewers.
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Adam Smith
13th May 02
Right, Iwatched the Brass Eye Special on Channel 4 tonight
and really I am sick of what sort of programme you can put on the
television. It's as if it was a joke , the way u are making a laugh
out of paedophiles, is that what we want to see on the tele? I dont
think so. Now u just think if Sarah Payne's parents or other members
of her family are watching , and they see this piece of crap you have
on. If I was u channel 4 I would be very very ashamed of what u have
put on.
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Trish Ansell
13th May 02
I cannot believe you are putting this out again. Did
you not get the message when this sad piece of work came out before.
There is no need for this, I am sure you have better things to put
out. Do you have children of your own????. I felt sick and sad to
see this go out again.
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Lloyd Thomas
13th May 02
Brass Eye !! Repeated again ! Why ??? If you or the producers
of this had been attacked by one of these people, would you have made
this perverted programme ?? You are all sick!
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Chris Mitchell
13th May 02
After viewing this hilarious programme, I am SO looking
forward to the Production Team's next project - a musical snuff movie
based on the happy Gloucester home-life of Fred and Rosemary West.
You really have to be a self-absorbed psychopath to think that there
is anything remotely funny about paedophilia. And yes - we all know
the point of the programme was to lampoon media hysteria. So choose
another subject then. Meanwhile an apology to all those affected by
abuse wouldn't go amiss. (There is, of course, another explanation
which is that Chris Morris is, in fact, an American Roman Catholic
priest, working undercover). Channel 4 - wake up and smell the coffee.
This programme stinks.
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Anna Raffles
13th May 02
Thank you for showing this again; I missed it the first
time around, and was disappointed, especially given the press response.
I loved it, it was spot on, totally out of order, and hysterically
funny. Thank you Channel 4, for showing it again.
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Mrs Kirstein
13th May 02
My husband and I watched the program on Channel 4 tonight
called Brass Eye thinking it would be a documentary about Paedophiles.
We were totally disgusted by what we saw. How could you take a subject
so serious and make light of it. Even involving children in the show.
We just could not believe what we were watching. It was an outcry.
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Adrienne Cooper
13th May 02
The Brass Eye programme broadcast this evening has reached
a new low in what purports to be humour on British TV. Yes, it was
in such abysmally poor taste that it could not even register on the
scale of what is acceptable; and yes, it was objectionable to use
the subject of paedophilia with no regard for the distress it might
cause, but what was the most sad was just how bad the programme was
in terms of attempting humour. No style, no wit, no intelligence -
it was just plain awful. An utterly pathetic attempt to be amusingly
controversial and I think a reflection of the lack of personal standards
in our society today.
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Gunter Pibernik
13th May 02
The "comedy" programme shown last night taking
the p**s out of peadophiles was absolutely disgusting. How channel
4 could ever think something like that was in good taste, I don't
know. Being extremely broadminded myself, I find a lot of things funny,
but that just turned my stomach.
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Lucy
13th May 02
This is just a query from last nights programme on paedophiles
on the Brass Eye Special' I found it quite disturbing that a thing
like this was being joked about and that stars such as Gary Linekar
were involved. Could you please explain to me what the point of the
programme was as I am not in a position to critisise. Was the comedy
aspect of it to grab attention? I am quite surprised as I have seen
other Brass Eye programmes but this was a bit too far for my liking.
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A O'Neill
14th May 02
Good Morning I have to write and tell you how upset I
was about a recent programme of Brass Eye shown on Channel 4. A skit
about child paedophilia through the Internet which I feel was in very
bad taste. I don’t think anything can ever be deemed to be funny
about any kind of child abuse whether it is emotional or physical.
As a person who is trying to get on with her life after child abuse
I found this piece in very poor taste and extremely insensitive to
the thousand of viewers in a similar situation to my own. It is bad
enough every day to be confronted with yet another story in the papers
or on the TV about yet another child who has to suffer at the hands
of some one else, without the past few years of hardship on my part
and theirs to be made a mockery of by some one trying to get a cheap
laugh. I hope who ever had any part in this never has to come across
child abuse in their own lives and learn for themselves nothing is
ever and will ever be funny about it. I really hope this particular
programme will never be aired again on Channel 4.
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CHANNEL 4
20th May 02
We believe that the Brass Eye Special on paedophilia’s
central theme of media hypocrisy served a clear public interest purpose.
The public interest lies in the juxtaposition between the hysterical
ways in which the media deals with paedophilia running parallel to
the increasing sexualisation of young children in the mainstream media.
We apologise for any distress this may have caused you. However,
what offends one viewer may not cause offence to another and so
the fear of offending individuals should not dictate what broadcasters
choose to show. The decision must be based on the risk of likely
offence weighed carefully against the public interest contained
in the programme.
Both television regulators, the ITC (Independent Television Commission)
and the BSC (Broadcasting Standards Commission), agreed that Brass
Eye Special had a “clear public interest” and was “justified”.
The BSC also said that they “did not consider that the programme
sought to normalise paedophilia or belittle the suffering of its
victims.”
The Brass Eye programme has been one of the most difficult programmes
that the channel has broadcast in the last few years. It is precisely
because it is so innovative and breaks new ground that the issues
it poses are far from straightforward.
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Elizabeth Scott
14th May 02
Brass Eye was probably the most offensive piece of junk
ever to pollute my cerebral cortex. i consider myself to have a pretty
broad sense of humour but making fun of children being raped made
me want to castrate the producers of this programme. Channel 4 is
the best of all the terrestrial channels and it should be ashamed
of showing this kind of crap. I am SICKENED.
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Sarah Robinson
15th May 02
I would like to express my abhorrhence at the repeat
of the Brass Eye Special on paedophilia. I fully agree that the media's
hysteria surrounding issues of sexual abuse is disturbing and hypocritical,
but surely an intelligent person could find something more constructive
to broadcast about that than the offensive and unfunny programme that
was aired in July last year and again on Monday evening. Has it not
occurred to anyone at Channel 4 that child abusers watching the show
might believe that if sexual abuse becomes the subject of humour (yes,
I know it's supposed to be a satire about the media, but that isn't
how people will take it) then it becomes just that little bit more
acceptable. The fact that this programme has been shown again, without
the media frenzy this time, shows that the edge of unacceptability
has been eroded still further. Now it's "old hat". Child
abusers will feel just a little safer in their delusions that there
is nothing wrong in what they do. I feel very sad and disillusioned
by the callous attitude of the programme executives who have decided
to repeat this awful programme, and I would appreciate a reply to
this email (which I did not get last July when I complained), which
might attempt to justify this decision.
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Richard Emmerson
16th May 02
I'm getting a sense of Deja-Vu now, all the same misguided
arguements are being trotted out again and again - "we're disgusted
that Chris Morris could make a COMEDY about Child Abuse!! How could
C4 have this happen etc etc etc...." Please try and get past
the immediately Daily Mail knee-jerk (and indeed, the very thing the
programme was satirising) response on thinking that if there is Pedaeophilia
mentioned in a comedy then it must be taking the piss out of victims
of child abuse - look around at all the po-faced ratings-chasers and
insincere morons who dredge up these sensationalist headlines in order
to have extremely stupid reactionary idiots chasing Pediatricians
in the street (as did sadly happen last time). Chris Morris shows
the eagerness of "celebrities" to jump onto any good-cause
bandwagon when, if they did indeed care so much about the issue they
would have been supporting it way before Morris got hold of them.
Good god, Phil Collins - "I'm talking Nonce Sense" (yep,
no question there) and Dr Fox - "It's not scientific fact, but
it's true" on the genetic similarities between child abusers
and crabs. I found it hilarious over the things they got these people
to say, just because they were so desperate to show (very publicly)
that "oh yes, we care". There is not enough highlighting
and criticism of the hysterical high-moral tabloid reactions to anything
which is challenging and accusing the establishment of the hypocracy
they perpetrate. We need people like Chris Morris (and his team of
writers) to help us stop looking at the world through this nonsensical
and suppressive looking glass.
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Paul Brown
16th May 02
Has 'Brass Eye' Encouraged paedophilia? If it has maybe
there is a case for censorship. However, I say well done Channel 4
whatever I think of the comedy (I don't find Chris Morris particularly
funny) you did exactly what the remit says and discussed the controversial
stuff. I'm glad that we have Channel 4, keep doing what the free press
is meant to do.
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Simon Tsoi
17th May 02
I never saw the program the first time round. The trailers
looked funny and I was looking forward to seeing it. It is great that
Channel 4 can make programs like this. Sometimes its really upsetting
when society just gets all wrapped up in ****. I know paedophilia
is a serious issue, but does it help when we create so much hysteria
in our lives? And it really bugs me when people write in and complain
about nonsence!!! Imagine a world run by the censors - we'll all skip
and sing shall we? Keep up the good work C4.
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Simon Kovesi
17th May 02
The Brass Eye Paedophilia show revealed the moral inanity
of the media, as Morris' stuff always does. The majority of the comments
on this site also reveal a depressingly unsubtle, sexually torpid
UK populace, who are unable to see the difference between paedophilia
and the hysteria generated by mob-media ignorance, whcih this show
courageously attacks. Morris embodies sanity in a sick media world,
and is the most important satirist of his generation.
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William Forbes
12th June 02
The people upset by the Brasseye special are, in fact,
the very people the show was aimed at. The fact that they did get
on their high horse proves the point that Chris Morris was trying
to make. As for the celebrities, how long does it take, really, to
check some of the claims they made on the show? Or check to see whether
the organisation they are promoting actually exists? At least Dr Fox
had the guts to admit he should have thought something was up with
what he said when challenged about it on Have I Got News For You.
Keep up the good work Chris, can't wait for your next TV foray.
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Alex
26th June 02
I think Channel 4 overestimated the audience with this
programme. They overestimated the viewing publics ability to ascertain
the target of ridicule, which contrary to popular belief, was not
paedophilia, but the media frenzy that surrounds it. No-one is denying
the effect paedophilia has on children, and the devestation is causes
to families (as a sufferer of abuse from a family member, I maybe
understand this better than most. Thankfully) But there must be perspective.
Following the atrocious behaviour of tabloids over sex offender registers,
and the regular Murdoch Media sensationalising of events, the media
was ripe for attack over it's handling of these events. If anyone
should be condemned it should be the very rags that survive on the
salacious and often graphic details of paedophile activity on the
front page, and yet sexualise young people through pop stardom and
socalled 'Glamour' modelling.
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Sam Lloyd
1st Jul 02
Oh no. No, no, no. What is wrong with you people? Ok,
lets get the simple arguments out of the way first. If you dont like
it, turn it off! Simple. Do you not realise that you are the very
people the programme was mocking? People who jump up and down in disgust
because someone has dared to break a taboo. The next time you're running
down your street, copy of News of the World under your arm, heading
to lynch the paediatrician you've heard lives round the corner and
harbours refugees, spare a thought for those of us who are broad-minded
and intelligent enough to see that Brass Eye is big and it is clever.
Come on, a paedophile disguised as a school??? Its funny, its taking
the piss out of you, and you are just proving its point by getting
hysterical about it. Face it, everything I've said is fact. There's
no scientific proof, but it is fact. And Channel 4, Surely a Brass
Eye night is long overdue.
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