Spoof psychic sparks TV protests

Shirley Ghostman, played by Marc Wootton, has a BBC Three show

The BBC has apologised after 350 viewers complained about an interview with a spoof psychic on BBC One's Friday Night with Jonathan Ross.

Shirley Ghostman, who has a BBC Three show, made jokes about Jews and cancer.

"We are sorry that many viewers felt remarks made by Shirley Ghostman were unacceptable," the BBC said.

There were also "a handful" of complaints about an interview with Nicole Kidman in which Ross described the star's mother as "a bitch".

'Extreme' subjects

Ghostman, played by comedian Marc Wootton, appeared with Kidman and former Friends star David Schwimmer on Ross' chat show on Friday.

Ghostman reflected the "extremes" of subjects discussed on real psychic shows, the BBC said, adding: "In certain cases the material may cause offence because of its extremes.

"Most viewers are aware of the style and nature of Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, but we realise the comments were clearly more extreme to some viewers for whom the spoof nature of this character was perhaps unclear.

"It was certainly not our intention to cause such offence."

Pope jokes

The BBC also apologised for offence caused by jokes about the Pope and MG Rover on topical quiz show Have I Got News For You.

A statement said: "The programme always aims to be entertaining and can often be irreverent, but we certainly don't set out to offend."

Remarks about the Pope were acceptable because of "the enormous amount of positive coverage given to the Pope in BBC programmes recently", it said.

"But we recognise that some in our audience may not share this view," it added.