The communications regulator Ofcom has announced that it will be launching an investigation into the programme ‘UKIP: The First 100 Days’ after it was deluged with complaints.
The programme, which was set in the future after UKIP had won the 2015 General Election, received 5,252 complaints to Ofcom directly and a further 1,300 to Channel 4, the Express reports.
It makes it the second most complained about programme this year, following Channel 5’s Celebrity Big Brother which had a considerably larger audience. In 2014 that sparked 3,784 complains and 2,728 this year.
A spokesman told Breitbart London: “Ofcom has carefully assessed a number of complaints about UKIP: The First 100 Days on Channel 4. We are opening an investigation into the programme as it may raise issues under our rules on offensive material, misleadingness and due impartiality. We are also considering fairness and privacy complaints about the programme.”
While UKIP itself has not made a formal complaint to Ofcom, a spokesman said: “It’s not surprising given the number of complaints the programme received that Ofcom is investigating [this programme]. Ofcom has a duty to represent viewers, and on this occasion, many have been insulted by this malicious and fictitious ‘mockumentary’ on UKIP.”
The programme caused considerable upset by featuring race riots – including a Help For Heroes banner and an Israeli flag in a ‘far right’ demonstration and anti-immigration raids without a warrant.
The main story focused around the party’s only elected Female Asian MP, played by Priyanga Burford who is elected for Romford in an imagined landslide which puts Mr Farage in Number 10. She suffers a crisis of conscience after a factory is closed down in the constituency after the UK withdraws from the EU in what has been described as a deliberate attempt to skew the argument against withdrawal from the political union.
After the programme was aired, party leader Nigel Farage wrote on his twitter page:
“Looks like 100 Days of Ukip may well have backfired on Channel 4. A biased, partisan depiction of the only party that Believes in Britain.”
The docudrama depicted rioting on the streets in the wake of a UKIP general election victory and combined footage of events combined with scripted scenes.
Channel 4 said in a statement: “We are confident that the programme did not breach the Ofcom code and we will be providing a response to the investigation.”
Raw TV have so far failed to respond to any inquiries from Breitbart London regarding the use of actors or funding which it may or many not have received from the EU social fund by means of a grant.