Six viewers complained that scene from Peter Capaldi’s first full episode as the Doctor was ‘gratuitous’ and ‘unneccessary’

This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

The controversial “lesbian-lizard” kiss in Saturday’s Doctor Who episode will not be investigated by the media regulator, which said it “did not discriminate between scenes involving opposite sex and same-sex couples”.

Six people complained to Ofcom after Saturday’s series opener, Peter Capaldi’s first full episode as the Doctor, in which lizard woman Madame Vastra kissed her human wife, Jenny Flint.

The pair, played by Neve McIntosh and Catrin Stewart, shared a kiss as they were forced to hold their breath as they hid from killer droids, prompting complaints from some viewers that it was “gratuitous” and “unnecessary”.

A spokeman for Ofcom said: “Ofcom can confirm it received six complaints about a kiss broadcast in an episode of Doctor Who on Saturday 23 August.

“Having assessed the complaints, we can confirm that they do not raise issues warranting further investigation. Our rules do not discriminate between scenes involving opposite sex and same sex couples.”

Capaldi’s full debut as the 12th actor to take the lead role in Doctor Who was watched by a peak audience of 7.3 million viewers and had its biggest ratings for a series opener for four years.

The episode, set in a Victorian London menaced by a tyrannosaurus rex in the Thames and clockwork robots harvesting human organs for spare parts, attracted 6.8 million viewers, a 32.5% share of the audience.

Generally well received by critics, it was the best audience for the opening episode of a Doctor Who series since predecessor Matt Smith’s debut on Easter Saturday in early April 2010, when 8 million viewers tuned in.

Euan Ferguson, in his review of the new series in the Observer, said the kiss was a number of firsts in the show. “The first Doctor ever to have won an Oscar. Also, if not the first televised human-lizard kiss, then certainly the first televised human-lizard lesbian one.”

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