Channel 5’s documentary series The Sex Business has been found to have breached broadcasting guidelines, TV regulator Ofcom has ruled.
The Sex Business was made up of three episodes titled Pain For Pleasure, Trans On Demand and Orgasms For Sale, which documented the lives of sex workers working in specific areas of the industry.
However, despite a strong warning to viewers and its 10pm timeslot, Ofcom has ruled that the show was in breach of two of its guidelines.
An Ofcom spokeswoman said: “Our investigation found these programmes broke our rules by including images of extreme, graphic sexual activity.
“These were far more explicit than viewers would be likely to expect in a programme broadcast an hour after the watershed.”
More specifically, Ofcom took issue that certain graphic shots had been “insufficiently masked”, meaning “sexual material that was extreme, graphic, prolonged at times and prominent” was shown on screen.
The Sun has reported that a total of 15 complaints were made to Ofcom about the show after it aired at the end of last year.
A Channel 5 rep told HuffPost UK in response to the ruling: “The Sex Business is a programme of public interest, offering a unique insight into an industry employing around 100,000 people in the UK. We note that Ofcom considered this was a serious observational documentary and that the inclusion of sexual content clearly supported the editorial purpose, presenting the lives and experiences of the workers featured in the series.
“Although there were very clear warnings as to the explicit nature of the content both before the programme and every break part, we acknowledge the findings from Ofcom and will reflect on the decision before repeating any of the episodes in question.”
Three subsequent episodes of The Sex Business – titled Me And My Sex Doll, OAPs On The Game and Teens Selling Sex – aired on Channel 5 last week.