The Australian Communications and Media Authority will investigate a complaint by Christian group Festival of Light Australia alleging that Underbelly episodes have breached the Code of Practice classifications.
The complaint is over “unnecessarily prolonged and explicit” sex scenes, extreme violence and very coarse language.
Nine will defend the classification, arguing the series complies with its M classification while attempting to accurately portray its underworld subjects.
“This isn’t an imaginary scenario – we’re detailing a history that is already recorded and acknowledged and known,” said Richard Lyle, chief classification officer for Nine. “If you are trying to give people some understanding of how out of control the gangland murders have become, you have to give people as clear a picture as you can.”
But Roslyn Phillips, Festival of Light’s national research officer, said Underbelly should be re-classified as MAV and screened after 9.30pm.
“This program is likely to reinforce the normalisation of violence and of the frequent use of coarse and very coarse language – it is affecting the whole community,” Ms Phillips said.
ACMA has asked Nine to provide tapes of the contentious episodes and explain why the network believes it has not breached the Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice.
Ms Phillips described a sex scene between lawyer Zarah Garde-Wilson and her boyfriend, Lewis Caine – later murdered – as “gratuitously prolonged” and “entirely unnecessary”.
But Mr Lyle said the scene showed why Ms Garde-Wilson – “an educated, middle-class, intelligent woman” – would have become involved with a criminal such as Caine.
This week Nine also fumbled classification titles on Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares with intermittent PG idents during the telecast.
Source: The Australian
There’s a good reason the classification system is there, it’s very important that it reflects the contents of the program. If Underbelly has indeed breached its classification then that is inexcusable.
The fact that it’s on air is not the relevant point here, it’s the classification that is the key focus. The same rules apply to any other show on TV.
but wait a minute – what are the children doing up at 8:30 anyway!! and if their really devout christian parents don’t want them watching the show, there is a really simple answer – turn the TV off.
Another example of people not taking responsibility for their own actions and lives!
“Oh God, Gerald, would you PLEASE think of the children?”
Come on. Another religious group telling people hat they can and can’t see? It’s 2008 still isn’t it?
How about the early morning shows like Hillsong or other televangelists (when children are awake) that encourage and teach people to condemn all non-believers to “hell.”
Why aren’t they trying to protect people from that type of intolerance and hatred?
But that is why they called it ‘Underbelly’ in the 1st place…where all the action takes place.
It was only a matter of time!
I hate all these complaints against shows, do people have nothing better to do, and I severly doubt its affecting the whole community!
Underbelly is a brilliant show!
I am suprised though its taken almost to the end of its run for someone to spark up and complain as the subject matter and depictions are a bit racy!
I think 8.30 is a suitable time!
I really REALLY wish religious nutters would stop pushing their value systems on the majority. Underbelly represents the first descent eddy content on TV in years and they want to go back to crap old world moral values.