Ofcom confirms most complained about TV moments of 2024 – with TalkTV top

At the time, Ofcom declined to formally investigate but explained that it had told TalkTV "to take extra care to ensure that comments which have high risk of causing serious offence are justified and put into proper context".

The second most complaints were lodged for an episode of Good Morning Britain in August, with the vast majority of those concerning an interview with Labour MP Zarah Sultana, who had said that the interview "felt like an interrogation".

Despite the volume of complaints, Ofcom said that its assessment "found that Ms Sultana was given ample opportunity to express her views and respond to the questions put to her".

Together, those two instances accounted for almost half of the total figure of 69,080 complaints throughout the year, while other programmes to attract multiple complaints included episodes of Love Island, Big Brother and Emmerdale – the latter due to an storyline in which Tom King was seen injecting pet dog Piper with an unknown substance.

Meanwhile, complaints about TV and radio coverage of the General Election accounted for just 4 per cent of all complaints this year, while complaints about US election coverage made up under 1 per cent of the total.

A statement from Ofcom about the results read: "In 2024, complaints from viewers and listeners about content broadcast on television and radio were in line with last year’s volumes."

It added: "Viewers and listeners are at the heart of what we do, and we consider carefully each complaint we receive. All broadcasters are treated equally and fairly and held to the same high standards that UK viewers and listeners expect."

The figures revealed so far do not include complaints about BBC programmes, as those are handled by the BBC in the first instance and will be made available at a later date.

You can see the 10 most complained about moments below – you can find out more details, including Ofcom's response to each complaint, on its official website.

1. Julia Hartley-Brewer, TalkTV, 3 January – 17,366 complaints

Julia Hartley-Brewer interview with Dr Mustafa Barghouti.

2. Good Morning Britain, ITV1, 5 August – 16,851 complaints

MP Zarah Sultana interview.

3. Love Island, ITV2, 24 July – 1,832 complaints

Joey Essex and Sean Stone's behaviour.

4. Good Morning Britain, ITV1, 30 May – 1,777 complaints

Mike Parry and Kay Taiwo's debate about XL bullies.

5. Emmerdale, ITV1, 27 and 28 May – 1,193 complaints

Tom injecting pet dog Piper as part of the coercive control storyline.

6. Big Brother, ITV2, 7 November – 747 complaints

Comments by a housemate which some viewers considered racially offensive.

7. Sunak v Starmer: The ITV Debate, ITV1, 4 June – 710 complaints

A range of issues in the election debate.

8. Good Morning Britain, ITV1, 2 October – 705 complaints

MP Nigel Farage interview.

9. This Morning, ITV1, 28 May – 647 complaints

Nick Ferrari's comments on nut allergies.

10. Big Brother, ITV2, 22 October – 553 complaints

Imagery on a housemate's clothing.

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