C4 to screen Popetown cartoon BBC deems 'too offensive'

New Zealand television channel C4 is to screen the controversial cartoon Popetown, which BBC in Britain decided was too offensive to broadcast after spending over $5 million developing it.

C4, a mostly music video station in the Canwest stable that includes TV3 and radio stations like The Breeze and The Rock, says on its website that Popetown is an "insanely funny and politically incorrect cartoon".

"Popetown is the story of Father Nicholas and his life at the Vatican, featuring the voices of comedian Ruby Wax and super model Jerry Hall."

The Catholic Church says it be watching the show carefully before deciding whether to lay a complaint.

Director of communications for the Catholic Church Lyndsay Freer said today she didn't believe the Pope was a suitable figure for a cartoon.

"On the face of it, it looks as though it is going to be offensive but I can't really say that without having seen it.

"We have to wait and see - there is a very fine line between what is funny and what is offensive."

If the show was offensive, the Catholic Church would decide whether to lay a complaint with the Broadcasting Standards Authority or take other action.

The website Popetown.com describes the cartoon Pope as a "77-year-old eccentric with all the charm of an obnoxious seven-year-old (who likes Father Nicholas so much that he takes baths with him)."

Mrs Freer said that description seemed offensive.

She and other Catholics would be watching the first show next Wednesday with interest. "Because humour is very subjective there probably will be Catholics who will be offended by it and others who will be amused by it."

She said there appeared to be a serious double standard. "I don't think any company would make a series like this that would send up, say, Islam... they just wouldn't do it, they couldn't do it.

"There would be all kinds of repercussions. Why do they do it for us?"

C4 station manager Andrew Szusterman said the programme was satire and no more offensive than Father Ted, the Vicar of Dibley, or Monty Python's Life of Brian.

"We've put it through our appraisers and they've rated it as PGR (Parent Guidance Recommended). The deal is when people watch it, they'll realise it's not that bad."

Mr Szusterman believed any moral outrage had been blown out of proportion. "I think people will be surprised at just how inoffensive it will be... We could screen it at 7 o'clock if we wanted to.

"We understand that some members of the population are upset with it so we're screening it at 9.30pm."

Mr Szusterman said when C4 had purchased Popetown it had believed BBC would be screening the show.

Despite BBC's decision not to screen the programme, Mr Szusterman felt the BBC had not thought Popetown was that bad. "If they really thought it was that offensive would they still be selling it?"

At the time when BBC canned plans to screen the 10-part series, BBC 3 Controller Stuart Murphy said the comic impact of screening the show did not outweigh the potential offence it could cause.

"I knew when we developed the series that there was risk involved but unfortunately, once we saw the finished series, it became clear that the programme fell on the wrong side of that line," Mr Murphy said.

* Popetown premieres on Wednesday, June 8th at 9.30pm on C4.

- NZPA