We needn’t swear by such language

I DON’T know how many readers have watched The Responder, set in Liverpool and screened on BBC 1 over the last couple of weeks.

For those who haven’t, the story revolves around a world-weary police officer, whose patch embraces drug users and pushers, along with myriad petty criminals and time wasters.

He’s also suffered the indignity of a demotion, and, not surprisingly, he’s at the end of his tether.

To give it an added air of verisimilitude, the series is written by a former copper on the beat, so to question its authenticity might be considered ill-advised or naive. Indeed, that is not the purpose of this letter.

That said, I yearn for the time when the television intelligentsia resist the idea that they are ‘educating and informing’ the masses by the use of excessively gratuitous language and overwhelmingly repellent characters.

Those of us of a certain age

– in particular – hardly have a Disneyesque view of life.

For my part, I spent most of my working life engaged with young people in a variety of situations, as well as serving as a magistrate for over twenty years – easily shocked, I’m not.

It has, unfortunately, almost become a badge of honour for TV to proclaim ‘the following programme contains swearing and violence which some viewers may find offensive.’

Much more offensive to me is the subliminal notion that we don’t realise such things exist without television ramming it down our throats.

I note the author of this piece is a great admirer of Jimmy McGovern. Some of his work is equally raw, but his series Moving On is a text book example of a series dealing with varied adult situations, which always engages the viewers, without alienating them.

Hopefully there is another writer/‘responder’ out there who can do likewise?

Brian Beard