Outrage at Channel 4’ s spoof Ukip documentary
A TV spoof documentary depicting race riots on Britain’s streets in the wake of a Ukip general election victory sparked a furious backlash against Channel 4 yesterday.
The drama imagined Nigel Farage as prime minister and lampooned the party’s policies, suggesting the country would be plunged into social and economic chaos during the first 100 days of a Ukip government.
The programme featured protests leading to violence following tough anti- immigration raids and showed a factory being shut down after the UK withdraws from the European Union.
Party leader Mr Farage yesterday blasted the programme, Ukip: The First 100 Days, as a “biased, partisan depiction” and said it “may well have backfired on Channel 4”.
More than 700 people complained to watchdog Ofcom that the drama was highly biased, making it Britain’s second most complained about one- off show of the past four years.
An online petition calling for Channel 4 to apologise had reached 2,000 signatures by lunchtime yesterday.
And some also used Twitter to express their fury. One said: “This is so biased it makes me furious – and I don’t even support Ukip.” Another wrote: “I’m no Ukip fan but this hatchet job is quite anti- democratic and quite outrageous.”
Monday night’s broadcast, seen by a million viewers, used actors alongside real documentary footage for its fictional portrayal of Britain under Ukip rule.
Actress Priyanga Burford plays the part of the party’s only Asian woman MP who is elected for Romford in Essex in an imagined surprise landslide which puts Mr Farage in Number 10.
She is left grappling with her conscience over the party’s migration policies amid the protests.
Ukip MEP and parliamentary candidate Gerald Batten called on Ofcom to launch an investigation to establish whether the programme breached broadcasting regulations.
“I’m not quite sure what you would describe it as apart from a piece of bile and vitriol from our political opponents.” Senior Ukip MEP Roger Helmer added that he too thought the film was a “hatchet job”.
A spokesman for Ofcom said: “We will assess these complaints before deciding whether to investigate.”
Channel 4 said: “The programme was produced in accordance with the Ofcom Broadcast Code and its obligations to be fair, accurate and duly impartial.”