TV’s most complained about moments of 2024, from Julia Hartley-Brewer to Joey Essex

TV’s most complained about moment of 2024 was a heated exchange on TalkTV between Julia Hartley-Brewer and a Palestinian politician.

Ofcom has released its list of the top 10 most complained about programmes of 2024; the row, which saw Hartley-Brewer shout “For the love of god let me finish a sentence man!” at Dr Mustafa Barghouti, topped the chart with 17,366 viewer complaints to the broadcasting regulator.

Along with the number two most complained about show, an episode of Good Morning Britain that sparked 16,851 reports, they made up nearly half of all complaints.

Other notable moments that saw viewers reaching for the complaints form included Joey Essex and Sean Stone’s Love Island row, a scene of animal abuse in Emmerdale, and a comment by a Big Brother housemate.

The volume of complaints received for Hartley-Brewer’s interview was almost double the most complained about programme of last year – Laurence Fox’s “misogynistic comments” about female journalist Ava Evans, in which he asked “who would want to s**g that?” which received 8,867 complaints in 2023.

These were the most complained about programmes of 2024, as revealed by Ofcom:

1. Julia Hartley-Brewer, TalkTV, 3 January – 17,366 complaints

We didn’t have to wait long for the most complained about moment of the year, as Julia Hartley-Brewer’s heated exchange with Palestinian politician Dr Mustafa Barghouti saw thousands of complaints stream in from 3 January.

The Palestinian MP had been invited onto the TalkTV show following a senior Hamas leader being killed in an Israeli drone strike and Hartley-Brewer quickly lost patience as he spoke about Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, putting her head in her hands and telling him there wasn’t time for his explanation.

She also looked around the studio laughing while he was speaking, and then interrupted one of his answers with: “Please don’t say that again, we don’t have time for that, you’ve made that point five times already.”

As Dr Barghouti told her he didn’t know what she had time for, she shouted: “For the love of god let me finish a sentence man!

“Maybe you’re not used to women talking, I don’t know, but I’d like to finish the sentence!”

Dr Barghouti told her: “You are misleading the public.” But as the interview ended Hartley-Brewer said: “Sorry to have been a woman speaking to you but there you are.”

Ofcom said: “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.”

2. Good Morning Britain, ITV1, 5 August – 16,851 complaints

Just behind Hartley-Brewer’s show was an August episode of Good Morning Britain that saw two different moments boost the numbers of complaints against it.

Sparking concern from viewers was an argumentative interview with Zarah Sultana, MP for Coventry South about the violent protests in some parts of the UK in the wake of the killing of three young girls in Southport.

Viewers felt that Sultana had not been given enough chance to make her views heard, while others were annoyed that former MP turned GMB host Ed Balls was allowed to interview his own wife on the issue, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper.

Ofcom said: “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.”

3. Love Island, ITV2, 24 July – 1,832 complaints

Love Island is a regular entrant in the annual Ofcom complaints list, and this year’s main gripe was about an aggressive moment between contestants Joey Essex and Sean Stone.

TOWIE star Essex had arrived in the villa looking for love and made his way through a number of different partners, including ex-girlfriend Grace Jackson.

But it was his rivalry with fellow contestant Stone that topped the complaints. Essex had labelled Stone “jarring” which led to a row that wouldn’t die down and eventually saw Stone vote Essex and partner Jessy Potts out of the show just before the final. Viewers felt that the ITV2 programme showed too much confrontation between the pair.

Ofcom said: “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.”

4. Good Morning Britain, ITV1, 30 May – 1,777 complaints

Good Morning Britain also found its way back into the list at number four, with some viewers offended by a heated debate over XL bully ownership.

The now-banned breed has made the headlines a number of times this year over attacks on people that have in some cases proved fatal. The ITV breakfast news show hosted a debate over whether the dogs should be put down which quickly escalated on both sides.

Ofcom said: “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.”

5. Emmerdale, ITV1, 27 and 28 May – 1,193 complaints

Emmerdale’s ongoing coercive control storyline has included many difficult to watch moments over the year between abuser Tom King (James Chase) and his wife Belle Dingle (Eden Taylor-Draper), but it was actually a scene with their dog that upset the most people.

The storyline eventually drew to a close in a one-hour special and has left a lasting impact on many soap fans.

Ofcom said: “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.”

6. Big Brother, ITV2, 7 November – 747 complaints

Big Brother’s reboot returned for a second series this year and the housemates brought with them as much controversy as ever.

Some viewers considered a comment made by contestant Sarah to be racially offensive.

Big Brother addressed the comment in the diary room with Sarah.

Big Brother said: “When Hanah questioned you about you calling her gloaty, you referred to the ‘Stop the gloats’ chant you had created with Nathan during the earlier task. Your use of language around this political reference has had an impact on your fellow housemates. As you know, the Big Brother house is made up of people from all walks of life with different life experiences.”

Looking confused, Sarah said: “Sorry, I’m not disagreeing with you, there is lots of walks of life, but I did not mean that with anything towards immigration or racial intent. For me, it was just a funny wordplay.”

She added: “I’d like to say that if I’ve offended anybody by making that kind of joke, I am genuinely 100% remorseful. That is down to my own stupidity and selfishness, me making a joke with wordplay and being like, ”Haha! Good joke!” and not thinking about how that would affect other people.”

It’s not the first time the reality show has had to deal with such an issue in its history.

Ofcom said: “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.”

7. Sunak v Starmer: The ITV Debate, ITV1, 4 June – 710 complaints

In a general election year, tempers are quick to rise on all sides and as ITV staged a televised debate, voters from both ends of the political spectrum complained about how much air time Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer had been allowed.

Ofcom said: “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.”

8. Good Morning Britain, ITV1, 2 October – 705 complaints

Both Nigel Farage and Good Morning Britain are no stranger to Ofcom’s complaints list, so when Farage appeared on the ITV breakfast show it was no surprise that the complaints came rolling in.

Farage clashed with presenter Susanna Reid, leaving some viewers complaining that the Reform UK leader had not been allowed to explain himself fully.

Ofcom said: “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.”

9. This Morning, ITV1, 28 May – 647 complaints

This Morning’s discussions over topical issues have made Ofcom’s list before. Last year, Vanessa Feltz caused offence with comments about having to provide gluten-free options to guests.

It seems her co-star Nick Ferrari, who also regularly joins as a commentator, had not learned any lessons from Feltz as he made jokes about peanut allergies and whether they were real that sparked hundreds of complaints.

The following day TV host Dermot O’Leary apologised on behalf of This Morning. He said: “Quickly, before we start, yesterday there was a reference on the show to nut allergies in The Morning View. Apologies from us. We just want to reiterate we take those very seriously, especially dangerous ones, on the show.”

Ofcom said: “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.”

10. Big Brother, ITV2, 22 October – 553 complaints

Rounding out the list is a second entry from Big Brother, with complaints over a T-shirt worn by eventual winner Ali Bromley.

An image on the T-shirt showed a map with modern day Israel as a watermelon in the colours of the Palestinian flag. ITVX removed the episode from streaming and then re-uploaded it with the image edited out.

Ofcom said: “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.”

At the time, a Big Brother spokesperson said: “All Housemate items are checked by our production team before they go into the Big Brother House to ensure they comply with the Rules and compliance requirements.

“Big Brother does not allow any personal items into the House that could be deemed harmful. We regret that the implications of this particular item of clothing were not fully understood in our bag checks or prior to broadcast of last night’s show.

“We apologise to any viewers who have been offended by the broadcast and assure viewers that Big Brother was unaware of the implications of the image. The item of clothing has been removed from the House. The Housemate has been spoken to and they have expressed that they are unaware of the implications and did not wish to cause any harm or offence.

“Any offensive messaging associated with the image does not reflect the values or beliefs of Big Brother.”