Fans of the BBC radio drama, The Archers were left ‘wincing’ after a reference to Bondi Beach was included in the December 17 episode, mere days after the horrific terror attack that left fifteen people dead.
Bridget Appleby took to Facebook to share her displeasure at the lack of ‘tact’ displayed by the show: ‘I do think a tiny edit just there would’ve been tactful, given the news events. I don’t think Ben would’ve been joking about Bondi Beach’.
The comment in question came as David Archer (Timothy Bentinck) was talking to son Ben (Ben Norris) about his girlfriend, Beth Casey’s (Rebecca Fuller) holiday to Australia.
Other listeners flooded to comment, with Jackie Elton proclaiming: ‘I sent complaints to feedback, BBC complaints and the podcast program; couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Badly done’, with Jess Williams describing the incident as ‘just careless’.
Rachel Krebs commented: ‘I agree. Tasteless. Would have been a small edit and saved us the wince’. Jane Stratton said: ‘Totally agree, I winced too, it wouldn’t have taken long to re-record that scene. They’ve managed to do it in the past. I remember an insert they included following Princess Diana’s death. Badly done, BBC.’
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Some listeners wondered how the incident would be handled, with Alan Gilbert pondering: ‘Yes, they slipped up there. I wonder if it’ll be edited out for the repeat, with Cathy Lane commenting: ‘I listened to it on Sounds this morning and didn’t notice a Bondi reference, so I think they removed it.’
The comment in question was, in fact, edited out of the version uploaded to BBC Sounds, with Bridget providing an update to her post.
‘The online version has now been edited – David mentions Australia and Ben laughs now to cover the gap. Some of us have complained to the BBC – I think we all recognise the seriousness of this topic.’
While some commenters were angry, others were much more forgiving, with Steve Conway saying: ‘It was recorded weeks ago and probably not listened to since then. If someone had remembered I’m sure they’d have done something about it.’
When reached for comment, BBC said: ‘The Archers is recorded many weeks in advance, and this episode was recorded before recent tragic events at Bondi Beach. We removed the mention of Bondi Beach from the episode’s repeat on Radio 4, and it has also been removed on BBC Sounds.’
