'Coronation Street' Branded 'Too Violent' By Former Star Bruce Jones

Former ‘Coronation Street’ star Bruce Jones has slammed the soap for being “too violent”, claiming many of its recent scenes had gone “too far”.

In recent weeks, viewers of the ITV show have seen killer Pat Phelan murder Andy Carver after holding him hostage, as well as shooting Luke Britton before burning him alive.

Luke’s exit scenes proved to be particularly controversial, with broadcasting regulator Ofcom receiving over 650 complaints about them airing before the 9pm watershed.

Bruce, who played Les Battersby on the cobbles between 1997 and 2007, has now added his voice to the debate, believing the soap crossed a line.

Speaking to The Sun, he said: “The shootings and the stabbings went too far.

“The violence when I was there wasn’t as bad as that. I just don’t know why it’s gone that way. I can’t watch it anymore because it’s too violent.”

He added: “It’s terrible. People said to me I’m not watching anymore. They say to me ‘Did you watch that s*** last night?’

“They call it s*** and I went no, I watched some of it and turned it off. It’s no good complaining to me, I can’t do anything.”

While he admitted ‘Corrie’ has always featured some violent scenes, Bruce claimed they were not as explicit as what we see on screen now.

“That was violent but it wasn’t violent like the violence is in it now,” Bruce said.

“I don’t think ‘Coronation Street’ have set out to do what they’re doing, they’ve just gone with the way the world is which ‘Coronation Street’ nearly always has done. But just because the world’s gone violent, doesn’t mean the feel-good TV show has to go violent.”

As is standard procedure, Ofcom is currently assessing the complaints about Luke’s death scenes, before deciding whether to investigate further to decide if ITV broke rules on “appropriate scheduling”.

In response to the complaints, a ‘Coronation Street’ spokesperson said in a statement: “Pat Phelan is well established as a villain in a long line of murderous ‘Coronation Street’ villains, and his evil actions won’t have come as a surprise to viewers

“The programme is always careful to limit the violence shown to a minimum to convey the drama and tell the story. We have responded to Ofcom.”

HuffPost UK has contacted a ‘Coronation Street’ spokesperson for further comment in relation to Bruce’s remarks and is awaiting a response.

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