The BBC received 109,741 complaints about its coverage of the death of Prince Philip on the day that he died. Many of them were from people who were left unhappy after discovering that their favourite programmes had been replaced with tributes to the late Duke of Edinburgh, and fans of BBC Four found that the channel had been taken off air and replaced with a notice urging viewers to switch to BBC One.
The BBC acknowledged on Twitter that this record number of complaints was due to the opinion of many that the coverage was “excessive”. Many were quick to agree. A user with the tag @hattiepevrel complained about “simultaneous coverage” of the “same content” over several channels.
Meanwhile @BrianWescombe ended a rhetorical question about the necessity of duplication with some friendly advice for “a simple graphic” pointing viewers towards the News Channel.
But elsewhere posters took the opportunity to pay their respects to the late prince and to share their disapproval of the lack of respect he was receiving. The user @KMM_halliwell used as miliray phrase to suggest that critics “stand down” and show respect.
It was an opinion echoed by @Penn48 who argued that Price Philip’s lifetime of “devoted service” meant the extent of the coverage was not “that much.”
The BBC has stood firm over its coverage of what it describes a “significant event which generated a lot of interest both nationally and internationally”. On its decision to cancel some other programmes the corporation released the following statement: “We do not make such changes without careful consideration and the decisions made reflect the role the BBC plays as the national broadcaster, during moments of national significance.”