Phillip Schofield criticises 'outraged middle England' after This Morning Fifty Shades of Grey bondage complaints

The TV presenter has said that he feels the furore was needless

(Ken McKay/ITV/Rex Features)

Phillip Schofield has criticised the 120 complaints to Ofcom about This Morning's mildly raunchy 'bondage for beginners' section.

The daytime TV show aired a feature on sex inspired by Fifty Shades of Grey in early February. The segment included blindfolds, sex toys and models in their underwear, and was broadcast at 10.30am.

Viewers complained that the section was "pornographic" and broadcast watchdog Ofcom released the following statement: "Ofcom has opened an investigation into whether an item about 'bondage for beginners' was suitable for broadcast before the watershed."

This Morning does 'Bondage For Beginners' (Rex Features)

However, Schofield - who co-hosted the programme with Christine Bleakley - has told Press Association that the complaints were "minor" and were merely "middle England outrage".

He said: "I think for me, and it’s my own personal belief, but in the old days, people would pick up the phone and complain or they’d write a letter.

"But now they go to Ofcom and they must be sick to death of all of this. Any minor outrage that anyone’s got, they go to Ofcom. They must be inundated with minor complaints."

Schofield argued that "magazine" daytime television has always had an important role covering subjects other programmes won't touch. “As far as I’m concerned, This Morning has always pushed the boundaries," he argued.

"Richard and Judy did it when they launched Viagra for the first time, the first time we did a testicular examination, the first time we did an examination to hopefully safeguard yourself against breast cancer, people were outraged, up in arms. This was shocking, shocking television.

"Since the first day This Morning did that, we’ve saved countless lives," he said.

Explaining that he didn't think bondage would save lives, Schofield argued that it was nevertheless important and topical. "Everyone went to see the movie and if you look at the stuff we had on there, it was very innocent stuff and also spectacularly when the item had finished the things we had were all sold out in moments.

"So behind those closed, outraged doors of middle England, what they were secretly doing was going to buy this stuff online."

Touché, Phil, touché.