May 7, 2015, a general election will be held in the UK and it could be a tight race. With that in mind was last night, Monday, an appropriate time to air a drama predicting what could happen if UKIP were victorious in the polls? UKIP were seen as a substantial threat to many UK political parties, not least the Conservatives. In last year's European elections they took scalps but in many ways their popularity is waning. At least one pre-election poll this week has claimed that the Tories popularity has experienced a slight increase but at the expense of the Green Party and UKIP. But we should all remember it is election year which means facts, figures and polls are spun until they represent what suits. In the run-up to the election a damning but fictitious drama about one of the political parties could have a negative impact but should it have been allowed? The drama followed UKIPs only female MP as she tried to put her stamp on her constituency. The drama did portray UKIP in a good light at least as far as the NHS goes but as it was a drama the timing must surely be questioned. There were plenty of viewers who complained; according to BBC News there were more than "700 complaints to media watchdog Ofcom since its broadcast on Monday night". Channel 4 aired the drama and have defended it but they also received 250 complaints. Mixing archived footage with fiction the drama depicted rioting on the streets after UKIP win the general election. While some have described the drama as intriguing and entertaining leading lights of UKIP hold a different view. UKIP leader Nigel Farage was asked by Channel 4 to watch the drama before it was aired and be interviewed but he declined. Like him or loathe him can you blame him? "Looks like 100 Days of UKIP may well have backfired on Channel 4. A biased, partisan depiction of the only party that Believes in Britain," wrote Mr Farage on Twitter. He continued: "[Channel 4] can just spout their views and don't actually have to go out and defend them in elections, which we do." In the spirit of fair play perhaps Channel 4 should run similar dramas surrounding each political party. With David Cameron running scared of televised debates this may be the closest the electorate gets to debate.
Channel 4 added: "Channel 4 has a role to encourage debate and engage viewers in political issues. "The schedule will include a broad range of programming in the build-up to the election including news and current affairs investigations, a party leader debate and a major new political drama on the formation of the coalition government." Ofcom will now investigate the complaints, most about UKIP being portrayed in a bad light, and decide if it should take action. But either way the cat is out of the bag and "UKIP: The First 100 Days" will have hit the mark.
3 Comments
Dava Castillo
2/17/2015 03:33:25 am
Thank you for the report.
Reply
eileen
2/17/2015 05:17:26 am
Thanks for reading and commenting Dava.
Reply
Dava Castillo
2/17/2015 07:03:55 am
I am of two minds with debates. The concept of debates is that candidates have to respond extemporaneously--not prepared answers which is usually crowd pleasing. On the other hand, here in the US the debates are usually so close to the actual election that most people have already decided whom to vote for. Then again, the undecided might be influenced. Leave a Reply. |
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