Channel 4’s spoof docudrama about Ukip is to be investigated by the media watchdog after it sparked more than 6,500 complaints.



The programme, Ukip: the first 100 Days, imagined Nigel Farage as prime minister and used actors alongside real-life documentary footage.

It prompted 5,262 complaints to Ofcom and a further 1,300 complaints to Channel 4.

Ofcom said on Monday it had launched an official investigation into the show. It will look to see if the programme breached the broadcasting code on three separate counts: whether it was offensive, misleading, and on issues around due impartiality.

One area the regulator is believed to be looking at is the use of archive footage of Ukip supporters applauding which was then intercut with speeches by fictional Ukip politicians.

The one-hour programme, which aired on Channel 4 on 16 February and was watched by 1.1 million viewers, depicted rioting on the streets in the wake of a Ukip general election victory.

It featured actor Priyanga Burford playing the part of the party’s only Asian woman MP.

Her character is elected for Romford in an imagined landslide which puts Mr Farage in No 10, but she is left grappling with her conscience as a factory closes in her constituency after the UK withdraws from the EU.

The programme – which depicted riots between protesters for and against tough anti-immigration raids – was strongly condemned by party leader Farage.

“Look like 100 Days of Ukip may well have backfired on Channel 4. A biased, partisan depiction of the only party that Believes in Britain,” he wrote on his Twitter feed.

Channel 4 said in a statement: “We are confident that the programme did not breach the Ofcom code and we will be providing a response to the investigation.”

Along with around 1,300 complaints, Channel 4 said it had received 115 “appreciatives” of the broadcast.

Channel 4 has previously said “a lot of research” went into the film and that Mr Farage had been invited to watch it before it was broadcast and then to do an interview afterwards but he declined.

Farage previously appeared in an alcohol-fuelled Gogglebox special on Channel 4, with “posh couple” Steph and Dom Parker.

The programme prompted online campaigns, including one by far-right group Britain First, to complain to the regulator about the show. It has already generated more complaints than any programme in the whole of 2014, topped by Channel 5 show, Celebrity Big Brother, with 3,784 complaints.

Ofcom declined to say whether Ukip had officially complained to the regulator saying it did not disclose information on individual complainants.

An Ofcom spokesman said: “Ofcom has carefully assessed a number of complaints about Ukip: the First 100 Days on Channel 4.



“We are opening an investigation into the programme as it may raise issues under our rules on offensive material, misleadingness and due impartiality. We are also considering fairness and privacy complaints about the programme.”

A Ukip spokesman said: “As we know, Ofcom has received a huge number of complaints. They must now get on and do their job.”