SOAP BOMB HOAX CALL INSENSITIVE
Soap bomb hoax call 'insensitive'
TOP TV soap opera Coronation Street was accused of insensitivity after last night's programme featured a hoax bomb call - just a week after the Omagh bomb outrage.
Granada TV chiefs broadcast an unprecedented message after realising that the storyline could be related to the atrocity, which killed 28 people and injured more than 200.
More than 10 million viewers watched last night as Street character Toyah Battersby made a hoax bomb call to police in connection with animal rights issues.
Granada chiefs said they realised the sensitivity of the storyline and decided to issue a statement explaining that the episode had been recorded two weeks before the bomb in Omagh.
But in Omagh last night, Presbyterian minister the Rev John Murdoch said: "I would have thought it was very insensitive under the circumstances."
An ITV spokesman said: "It was the network's decision to keep it in. We issued the statement after the programme because we wanted people to be aware that we had realised, and that we were being sensitive and responsible about it."'
TOP TV soap opera Coronation Street was accused of insensitivity after last night's programme featured a hoax bomb call - just a week after the Omagh bomb outrage.
Granada TV chiefs broadcast an unprecedented message after realising that the storyline could be related to the atrocity, which killed 28 people and injured more than 200.
More than 10 million viewers watched last night as Street character Toyah Battersby made a hoax bomb call to police in connection with animal rights issues.
Granada chiefs said they realised the sensitivity of the storyline and decided to issue a statement explaining that the episode had been recorded two weeks before the bomb in Omagh.
But in Omagh last night, Presbyterian minister the Rev John Murdoch said: "I would have thought it was very insensitive under the circumstances."
An ITV spokesman said: "It was the network's decision to keep it in. We issued the statement after the programme because we wanted people to be aware that we had realised, and that we were being sensitive and responsible about it."'
Further Information
Publisher: IRISH INDEPENDENT
Ref: II/111
Published Date: 24-Aug-98
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