something other than a lazy copy of BBC's The Apprentice. Now a poor man's take on Auntie's HIGNFY – a TV show of such quality people should be arrested for copying it. Or not watching it." Bernard Manning joke The first episode attracted around 200 complaints after McDonald made a joke about the late controversial comedian Bernard Manning. In a section called Racist and Dead, McDonald said, "This week it's the turn of incompetent, narrow-minded northerner: Bernard Manning. Personally, I never thought of Bernard Manning as a racist comic; just a fat, white bastard." Amongst the people who complained was Jim Bowen, who said the comment was, "Appalling." However, an ITV spokesman defended it as satire, saying, "I'm sure Bernard would find the whole thing hilarious." However, Ofcom cleared McDonald and ITV of charges of racism, saying the joke was justified in context and that McDonald's was only parodying Manning. Ofcom said; "In the case of this programme, Sir Trevor McDonald obviously, and intentionally, drew on Bernard Manning's own style of humour, which frequently played on the real or apparent prejudices of his audience. The comments were clearly intended to parody Manning's own comedy, where he claimed he was not himself racist, but simply made 'jokes' based on racial stereotypes. It was in such a context that Sir Trevor McDonald could therefore state that he did not consider Manning to be a racist but then went on to say that he was '...a fat white bastard'." References External links 2000s British satirical television series 2000s British game shows 2007 British television series debuts 2007 British television series endings ITV comedy British satirical television series News parodies Television series by Hat Trick Productions English-language television shows ITV game shows