From Love Island to Laurence Fox: The 10 most complained about TV moments of 2023

Ofcom watching Love Island to check if Scott was bullied is sending me

4 months ago

Every year, the TV regulatory company Ofcom reveal the most complained about TV moments from UK telly, and they’ve just dropped the 2023 list. As per, it’s full of genuinely offensive stuff and some random chaos – some serious, some silly. Here’s a rundown of the 10 most complained about TV moments of 2023, according to what was received by Ofcom.

10. Love Island (9th July) – 992 complaints

Most of the complaints were regarding other Islanders treatment of Scott. The current status of the complaints is ‘not pursuing’, meaning Ofcom have no reason to investigate into it further.

9. Vanessa Feltz on This Morning – 1092 complaints

This only happened three days ago and it’s already the ninth most complained about moment. Vanessa Feltz received complaints for her comments about coeliac disease on This Morning. She said after a caller rang in for advice “She’s treating coeliac disease as if it’s a kind of fatal, potentially fatal peanut allergy and that they can’t have anything with gluten in the house, which is completely unreasonable.”

8. Naked Education – 1,285 complaints

People love complaining about a nakedness don’t they!? GROW UP! Ofcom also announced they aren’t pursuing this one.

7. Kay Burley’s ‘potentially misleading representation’ – 1,640 complaints

Sky News issued an apology for this one after admitting Kay Burley gave a “potentially misleading representation” of comments said by Dr Husam Zomlot in the wake of the Hamas attack on October 7th. Kay said that Zomlot said Israel “had it coming”. Ofcom are still investigating.

6. Lee Anderson interviewing Suella Braverman on GB News – 1,697 complaints

Complaints rolled in when Suella, then Home Secretary, was “grilled” by Lee Anderson on GB News – with people calling out the fact they’re both Tory MPs. It became the sixth most complained about TV moments of 2023 – but Ofcom ruled it was a non issue.

5. Breakfast with Kay Burley (23rd November) – 1,880 complaints

Kay Burley came under fire again for her line of questioning just after the Israel and Palestine temporary ceasefire. Ofcom ruled to not pursue further after they investigated.

4. Jeremy Vine (13th March) – 2,302 complaints

An episode of Jeremy Vine’s show on 5 got a lot of complaints after viewers called out inaccuracies in comments made and data used. Ofcom said that “we do not consider that the errors were sufficient to have materially misled viewers so as to cause harm”.

3. Good Morning Britain (17th October) – 2,391 complaints

Richard Madly received huge backlash after he asked the Palestinian descended MP Layla Moran if she was aware in advance of Hamas’ attack on Israel… Right.

Ofcom are not pursuing it further. The regulator accepted the comments could be offensive but argued the question asked “whether civilians were aware of a potential escalation in hostilities, rather than suggesting that Moran or her family were aware of specific plans for the Hamas attack on 7 October 2023”.

2. King Charles III: The Coronation – 8,421 complaints

Sadly these complaints were not all for the fact this nonsense exists, but because Adjoa Andoh (star of Bridgerton but most importantly Martha Jones’ mum in Doctor Who) said “We have gone from the rich diversity of the Abbey to a terribly white balcony.” And she was right!

1. Dan Wootton and Laurence Fox discussing Ava Evans – 8,867 complaints

The most complained about TV moment of 2023 was when Laurence Fox spoke disparagingly about journalist Ava Evans when he was a guest on Dan Wootton Tonight – on GB News. Fox called her a “little woman”, and said “Show me a single self-respecting man that would like to climb into bed with that woman ever, ever, who wasn’t an incel.” Ofcom are still investigating it. Dan Wootton and Laurence Fox were both suspended from GB News.