Ruby Wax show under fire after Damon's phone call
A Ruby Wax show which featured former world champ Formula One star Damon Hill speeding and using a phone as he drove has earned the BBC criticism from a TV watchdog.
Viewers complained that the scenes set a bad example by featuring dangerous driving in the BBC1 programme Hot Wax.
And the Broadcasting Standards Commission decided that the effect was to endorse and make light of potentially dangerous and irresponsible driving.
It upheld the complaints, although the BSC noted that there had been ‘‘some attempt’’ to condemn the dangerous driving.
The programme featured the Gumball Rally with contestants seen driving at high speed on British and European roads after having little sleep. Hill was one of the drivers who was seen.
The BBC said the show maintained a firmly sceptical tone about an event which encouraged such bad behaviour.
BBC2’s Top Gear: Value Special also had complaints upheld after it featured an item on one of the Great Train Robbers which the BSC felt appeared to ‘‘glamorise’’ his role in the crime.
