According to the Daily Mail, the broadcasting regulator revealed that the show had received 311 complaints following the episode of The Jeremy Kyle Breakfast Show that aired on Saturday, April 11. During the episode, presenter Jeremy Kyle was seen enraged in a fiery speech over the NHS' junior doctors going on strike for the 15th time over the past three years. The Daily Mail reported that Kyle made comments about junior doctors' origins and argued for tying doctors to contracts, though the specific content that triggered complaints has not been detailed by Ofcom. The episode sparked 311 complaints from viewers, as reported by Ofcom.
Last week, resident doctors began their six-day walkout over jobs and pay after it was revealed their previous strikes cost the NHS £3 billion in recent years. Tens of thousands of resident doctors, formerly known as junior doctors, joined picket lines at 7am after rejecting a pay deal which would have made them 35.2 per cent better off than four years ago, according to the Health Secretary. The strikes came after a government row with the British Medical Association over pay and job opportunities, with the BMA's resident doctors' committee rejecting the government's offer, breaking down negotiations.
Everybody, I think, is beginning to feel very angry about the junior doctors.
The show then showed live footage of people outside St Thomas' Hospital in London as the doctors took to the picket line in protest, according to the Daily Mail. This visual coverage highlighted the scale of the strike action that prompted Kyle's comments.
Earlier this month, Good Morning Britain was hit by a wave of Ofcom complaints as viewers hit out against presenter Ed Balls for 'political bias' after a 'disgraceful' live clash, as reported by the Daily Mail. This broader context shows that Kyle's show is not alone in facing viewer backlash through Ofcom complaints in recent television programming.
We all know the BMA is essentially a left-wing organisation and is doing what it can to overthrow this government.
They tried to overthrow the last government. I'm quite strong on this. I believe there's an argument that says we should tie them to contracts, sack them, and we shouldn't allow them to strike.
I'm not going to apologise to anybody for this because, again, the latest strike, people will die, people will miss cancer treatments, people will miss operations, it's absolutely disgusting! Try telling alarm clock Britain that 35 per cent isn't enough.
Here's the thing that I think, and I have to be careful, they all look really young, and a lot of them look like they've come into this country to be doctors in the first place.
Is that an outrageous thing to say? I don't know, I don't mean it to be.
They could be British-born, they might be doctors who have come over that Boriswave that we know lots of doctors come over, but whatever.
Whether they've come from abroad or are British-born, I just feel that they're holding the country to ransom now, I just get the feeling.
Sorry, but I'd sack them all!