Rupert Murdoch’s TalkTV has capped off a tough 2024 by recording the most complained about TV moment of the past 12 months.

Host Julia Hartley-Brewer‘s interview with the general secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative prompted 17,366 complaints, around double the number of 2023’s list-topper.

During the interview, Hartley-Brewer steadily became more irate with Dr Mustafa Barghouti as they clashed over the assassination of the deputy leader of Hamas in the wake of the October 7 attacks. Hartley-Brewer said “For the love of God, let me finish the sentence man” and later added: “Maybe you’re not used to women talking” when trying to interject.

At the time, Ofcom said it contacted Murdoch’s channel to remind the team to “ensure that potentially highly offensive comments are editorially justified.”

The interview came at the start of the year. One month later, TalkTV’s star presenter Piers Morgan revealed he was moving his show to YouTube and several weeks after that TalkTV ceased to be a linear channel, moving online only.

The Hartley-Brewer interview topped Ofcom’s annual list just ahead of an ITV Good Morning Britain episode in which presenter Ed Balls locked horns with a Labour MP over the summer riots. Zarah Sultana was attempting to explain the importance of calling the riots “Islamophobic” and “racist”, and felt that Balls repeatedly interrupted her. On the same show, around 1,000 complaints were made after Balls interviewed his wife, the shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper. “We reminded ITV of the need to make such relationships clear to viewers and to take particular care over the compliance of any such interviews to ensure that due impartiality is preserved,” said Ofcom.

The two incidences were comfortably ahead of the rest. In third place was an episode of Love Island in which contestants Joey Essex and Sean Stone had a charged confrontation. Good Morning Britain also came fourth for a debate over XL Bully dogs and dogs were also of primary concern for fifth-placed Emmerdale, which attracted complaints for an episode in which a character was seen injecting a dog with an unknown substance.

Last year’s list was headed by Laurence Fox’s misogynistic rant about a female journalist on GB News. Notably, GB News, which was recently fined £100,000 ($130,000) by Ofcom, was absent from this year’s list.

The full list

Comments made by Julia Hartley-Brewer during an interview with Dr Mustafa Barghouti, the general secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative, prompted a significant volume of complaints to Ofcom. We told TalkTV to take extra care to ensure that potentially highly offensive comments are editorially justified.

The vast majority of complaints concerned an interview with Zarah Sultana, MP for Coventry South. Our assessment found that Ms Sultana was given ample opportunity to express her views and respond to the questions put to her. We also received around a thousand complaints about the same programme from viewers who objected to Ed Balls interviewing his wife, Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary. We reminded ITV of the need to make such relationships clear to viewers and to take particular care over the compliance of any such interviews to ensure that due impartiality is preserved.

Viewers complained about the behaviour of Joey Essex and Sean Stone in this episode. We recognised that emotionally charged or confrontational scenes can upset some viewers. But, in our view, negative behaviour in the villa was not shown in a positive light, and contestants were seen supporting or apologising to each other.

Complaints followed a debate between two guests, Mike Parry and Kay Taiwo about whether XL bullies should be put down. While comments made by Mr Parry were potentially offensive to some viewers, they were met with significant challenge from dog trainer and XL Bully owner, Ms Taiwo, who put forward a strongly opposed point of view.

We received complaints after Tom was seen injecting a dog with an unknown substance, as part of ongoing coercive control storyline. While we recognised that this scene was an uncomfortable watch for some viewers, no graphic detail of animal abuse was shown, and Tom’s actions were not portrayed in a positive light. We also took into account that this long-running storyline depicting coercive control in a relationship would have been within audience expectations of this soap, which often tackles challenging themes and issues. 

We assessed complaints from viewers about a comment by Sarah, which they considered to be racially offensive. We understood viewers’ concerns, but in our view, the potential for offence was quickly made clear by Big Brother and the contestant was warned about her unacceptable behaviour. We also took into account that Sarah later apologised during the broadcast.

We carefully considered complaints about a range of issues. In our view, both Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer were given sufficient opportunity throughout the programme to respond individually to the policy questions raised. On the issue of Labour’s tax plans, Sir Keir was able to robustly challenge the veracity of Rishi Sunak’s claims.

We received complaints about an interview with Nigel Farage. While the line of questioning was robust, we considered most viewers of this programme were likely to expect this type of interview with political figures. Mr Farage was also given sufficient opportunity to clearly articulate his point of view.

Some viewers were concerned that comments made by Nick Ferrari during the programme trivialised nut allergies. We took into account that the comments were made in response to a hypothetical scenario by a media personality well-known for his provocative opinions. We also noted that an apology was broadcast the following day.

The majority of complaints were about imagery on a contestant’s clothing. Taking into account, among other things, that the prominence and duration of the image was limited, it was consistent with the individual’s right to personal expression, and it did not represent affiliation to a terrorist organisation, we did not find grounds to pursue further.