A scene showing an alien bursting out of John Hurt was apparently shown on ITV’s morning news (Picture: 20th Century Fox)

ITV have reportedly come under fire for showing a horrifying clip from Alien early in the morning, just after a children’s show had ended.

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Ofcom are thought to be investigating the channel after viewers complained that their January 28 tribute to the actor John Hurt, who’d died three days before, was inappropriate.

That may be because the Alien scene they used shows Hurt’s character in agony as a baby alien prepares to make its way out of his stomach in an explosion of guts.

Hurt’s scene in Alien is one of the most iconic in the history of cinema (Picture: Getty)

The Sun claims the scene was glimpsed during a 9.25am news bulletin looking back at Hurt’s career, which included a major and very memorable role in Ridley Scott’s 1979 space-set horror film.




Apparently, as part of the famous ‘chestburster’ scene was aired, young children who’d just seen their favourite morning TV show were ‘screaming’ their heads off.

One viewer wrote on Twitter at the time: ‘How on earth do you justify showing the scene from Alien on morning news. My kids are screaming. Bloody disgrace!’

Another tweeted: ‘Why on earth did you decide to show the chest bursting scene from Alien this morning @ 09:25? My six year old witnessed this!’

And a third complained: ‘Did my 4yr old just see the Alien chest burst scene at 9:27am- wtf! Really shocked!!’

The Elephant Man was another famous and acclaimed movie role for John Hurt (Picture: Universal)

Hurt — who died aged 77 on January 25 — was also known for his parts in The Elephant Man, Hellboy and Harry Potter.

You can watch the Alien chestburster scene below but be warned, it is very gruesome.

Metro.co.uk contacted Ofcom and ITV for comment.

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