Police sitcom Piglets, which comes from the team behind Green Wing, is now available to stream in full on ITVX, but it hasn't arrived without some controversy.
Advertisement
Ahead of its first episode airing, The Police Federation of England and Wales criticised the show's title, which is a play on the derogatory term for police (pigs) calling it a "disgusting choice of language" and "highly offensive to police officers risking their lives".
However, those behind the show have been clear in an interview with this week's issue of Radio Times magazine that they weren't trying to make a political statement with the title or the focus of the series.
Mark Heap said of the show: "It’s not a documentary. It’s not a satire on the police – it’s just a nice structure. It’s the 'sit' in which to put the 'com'."
Sam Pote as Leggo in Piglets. Moniker Pictures for ITV
Meanwhile, creator Victoria Pile said: "It’s a workplace with all the usual challenges and romances. Whether it’s a hospital, a police training college or a university, it’s still got the same human condition at its heart.
"Our little group wants to explore the real ways that people behave – and pull it out a little bit at the corners and go for the extreme."
The synopsis for Piglets says: "The government’s stated policy of recruiting 20,000 new police officers in double quick time has not come at the cost of lowering standards. Or has it?
"Piglets follows a newly recruited group of six very different would-be cops and the handful of key staff whose thankless task it is to knock them into some kind of shape."
While the team behind Green Wing have moved on to Piglets, and the show is not expected to return to TV, it did return earlier this year in the form of a follow-up podcast called Green Wing: Resuscitated.
The six-part audio series picked up with the show's characters 12 years on, with the original cast returning to their roles.
Piglets is available to stream in full now on ITVX.
James Hibbs is a Drama Writer for Radio Times, covering programmes across both streaming platforms and linear channels. He previously worked in PR, first for a B2B agency and subsequently for international TV production company Fremantle. He possesses a BA in English and Theatre Studies and an NCTJ Level 5 Diploma in Journalism.
