Viewers appalled as transvetite dressed as Little Bo Peep appears on top politics show
THE BBC has been accused of “stomach- churning” television after inviting a transvestite dressed like Little Bo Peep on to highbrow politics show Question Time.
Viewers of the BBC1 debate programme flooded its switchboard and website with complaints.
As his alter ego Claire, prize-winning potter Grayson Perry, 48, sat alongside Minister Yvette Cooper and Tory shadow security spokesman Dame Pauline Neville-Jones on the panel of Thursday night’s edition.
But debate quickly turned to farce when the camera focused on Perry in a wig and a pale blue gown with a lace-trimmed collar.
“It was like a seated Rocky Horror show,” wrote one viewer. “Stomach-churning.”
Debate quickly turned to farce when the camera focused on Perry in a wig and a pale blue gown
Another wrote: “Does the BBC really see a place for such farcical behaviour when discussing issues integral to the nation’s moral fabric?” Other viewers were, at least, able to see the funny side.
One wrote: “Most would be hearing the words but thinking, ‘Is this a Monty Python sketch?’”
Another said: “Is it fancy dress night?… Grayson Perry? More like Larry Grayson!”
Perry, whose controversial work features subjects such as child abuse, was warmly welcomed on to Question Time by chairman David Dimbleby and the audience at Bexhill-on-Sea. Perry is the curator of an exhibition there.
But minutes after the programme ended, complaints began that the BBC was dumbing down. Janice Evans from Glossop wrote on the BBC website: “Unbelievable! BBC you are now officially a joke… your credibility has gone down the pan.”
A male viewer stormed: “I refuse to be made a fool of.”
Last night a BBC spokesman said: “The Question Time website openly welcomes and encourages comments from viewers.”
