Part One looks at the issues that confronted the BBC and ITV in the days before multi-channel TV. Subjects include Tynan; Alf Garnett - who racked up 43 counts of 'bloody'' in one episode of Till Death us Do Part; the Frost Programme - which hosted the first c-word on British TV; the Sex Pistols' appearance on the Today Show with Bill Grundy; and the controversies surrounding Top of the Pops' re-versioning of Prince's Sexy MF and the re-dubbing of films 'Scarface' and 'Repo Man' - which saw the substitution of the phrase 'Mother F***er' for 'Melon Farmer'. Narrated by Max Beesley
The second and concluding part kicks off in 1982 when Channel Four controversially tried to bring a gritty realism to the language of Brookside with 22 swear words in episode one. Further subjects include how TFI Friday was almost taken off air because of repeated swearing; how advancements in technology covering sporting events have delivered a more exciting live experience and more expletives; how reality TV has changed the way people speak on television and how Gordon Ramsay single handedly smashed every record for swearing on television; and how programme makers have found new ways of policing bad language in live streaming broadcasts, most notably John Lydon's outburst on I'm A Celebrity....Get Me Out of Here. Bringing the story of bad language on television right up to date, the programme looks at the opposition the BBC faced in its decision to show Jerry Springer: The Opera and how the American drama Deadwood, shown on Sky One, defines itself using the most challenging of language. Narrated by Max Beesley