BBC rapped over Irish portrayal

The BBC has been slapped on the wrist for upsetting both the Irish and the cabinet minister Frank Field.

In its monthly report, the Broadcasting Standards Watchdog yesterday upheld complaints from 150 viewers, including the Irish Tourist Board, about episodes of EastEnders which portrayed Ireland as populated by drunks and idiots.

Also in the Broadcasting Standards Commission report was criticism of the BBC's Watchdog programme for investigating a pounds 40,000 trip by MPs to South America. The BSC upheld a complaint from Frank Field, now minister in the Department for Social Security, about a Watchdog programme that secretly filmed members of the social security select committee.