The TV show with the most complaints in Britain over the past half-decade has seemingly been confirmed, and we can’t exactly say it’s given everyone watching a good morning…
Yes, it’s GMB.
Well, that’s according to research by Aura Print, anyway; they dug down into the official Ofcom data to try and discover which British TV programme got the most complaints – an unwanted accolade that was earned quite comfortably by Good Morning Britain.
This might not come as too much of a surprise to many of you, especially regular viewers over the last few years, with GMB often popping up in headlines alongside phrases like ‘viewers complain’ and ‘Ofcom’. Either way, here’s what the study found:
Rank
Programme
Service
Number of complaints (2021-2025)
1
Good Morning Britain
ITV1
91,890
2
Love Island
ITV2
66,252
3
Julia Hartley-Brewer
TalkTV
18,525
4
Dan Wootton Tonight
GB News
9,207
5
King Charles III: The Coronation
ITV1
8,389
6
This Morning
ITV
7,387
7
Celebrities: What’s Happened to Your Face?
Channel 5
7,082
8
Oprah with Meghan and Harry
ITV
6,456
9
I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!
ITV1
6,203
10
Jeremy Vine
Channel 5
4,982
11
Big Brother
ITV1 / ITV2
4,678
12
Lorraine
ITV
4,675
13
Breakfast with Kay Burley
Sky News
3,467
14
Emmerdale
ITV1
2,405
15
Vanessa
5
1,986
16
Loose Women
ITV
1,799
17
Married at First Sight UK
E4
1,748
18
Coronation Street
ITV
1,348
19
Lee Anderson’s Real World
GB News
1,668
20
Friday Night Live
Channel 4
1,630
21
Headliners
GB News
1,498
22
Ant Payne
Capital FM
1,430
23
Naked Education
Channel 4
1,413
24
The Brit Awards
ITV1
1,157
25
Today with Samantha Washington
Sky News
1,270
As you can see, GMB has racked up nearly 92,000 complaints over the past five years, which is well over 25k more than the next most inflammatory.
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The rest of the top five is also made up of other mainstream news commentary programmes (four out of five), bar the second runner-up in Love Island, with 66,252.
It’s also worth noting that ITV is the most complained-about broadcaster of any network on the list. GB News came in second with three different shows on the list: Dan Wootton Tonight, Lee Anderson’s Real World and Headliners.
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Certainly not surprising whatsoever was the particular episode that received the most complaints of all those in the history of Good Morning Britain, which went out on 8 March 2021.
In case you haven’t guessed which one this is already, it was the infamous Piers Morgan episode discussing Meghan Markle’s mental health, which was reported to Ofcom a whopping 57,973 times.
This feels like a lifetime ago, but we remember it receiving most Ofcom complaints Britain had ever seen at the time.
Yes, more than half of the complaints they have ever received come after ONE viral moment.
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In terms of particularly divisive presenters, second only to Piers Morgan, Julia Hartley-Brewer was the next most complained-about presenter, racking up a total of 18,500 complaints.
GB News’ Dan Wootton came in at number three with 9,207 complaints, but also worth noting that plenty of what most would consider popular mainstream entertainment IPs like I’m A Celeb and Big Brother racked up over 10k collectively during this period.
You can find the full breakdown of Ofcom data from 2021-2025 right HERE.
Jimmy Bradbury, Reuben Haycocks, Aoife Anson O’Connell, and Paddy Murphy – better known together as Westside Cowboy – formed back in 2023 when they were students at the Royal Northern College of Music, so while they may not all be from Manchester, they definitely have the spirit of our city at the heart of everything they do.
After playing in different bands across the city throughout their student years, the four-piece joined forces to create Westside Cowboy – an indie rock collective credited with self-coining the genre of ‘Britainicana’.
Put simply, Britainicana is a cultural concept that mixes the hazy, mythic feel of American country and folk, with the sound of raw British punk, indie rock, and small-town life.
Westside Cowboy have released their debut album, It Goes On / Credit: Clementine Schniedermann (Press Shots – Supplied)
If that sounds like your cup of tea, then you’ll be pleased to know that Westside Cowboy have released their debut album, It Goes On, to the world today (21 August).
And the reception from critics, arguably, couldn’t be better.
Prior to the release of their debut album, the band had released two EPs, including So Much Country ‘Till We Get There in January earlier this year, and had started to make a name for themselves with their popular debut single ‘I’ve Never Met Anyone I Thought I Could Really Love (Until I Met You)’ in 2024.
They went onto make even further waves when they supported equally-rising American rock band Geese on their UK and Irish tour back in March – with many fans calling it one of the best support and main act combinations in some time.
Three singles from their debut album were shared with the world ahead of its release – ‘Kick Stones (The Boys)’ came first, followed by ‘Pin Up Boys’ and ‘Dobro’.
So, it’s fair to say the anticipation for album was high… and if the reviews are anything to go by (which we think they are), it looks like the band has very much delivered what they set out to achieve.
Westside Cowboy’s debut album It Goes On is now available to stream, or you can purchase a physical copy in a range of formats from their website here.
Take a listen👇
Featured Image – Press Shot (Supplied)
News
UK set to be battered by storms as ‘unprecedented’ El Niño arrives this autumn
Emily Sergeant
The UK is being told to brace for a series of storms this autumn when the ‘unprecedented’ El Niño weather event arrives.
It’s already been a summer of extremes for the country, with multiple heatwaves over the past couple of months, but now it appears that autumn and winter are set to have some extremes of their own, as the Met Office is warning that this upcoming El Niño could be one of the most significant in recent memory.
El Niño is declared when sea temperatures in the tropical eastern Pacific rise 0.5°C above the long-term average, which therefore impacts global rainfall patterns and average temperatures.
The natural warming of sea temperatures is forecast to reach more than 3°C in the coming months, according to the Met Office, making this year’s weather event have the potential to be ‘the largest since the 19th century’.
The UK is set to be battered by storms as ‘unprecedented’ El Niño arrives this autumn / Credit: Johannes Plenio (via Unsplash)
El Niño will create a heightened risk of drought in the tropics, southern Africa, and north eastern Australia, but over in north western Europe – including the UK – it means we are likely to experience wetter and stormier conditions.
The UK, and of course Greater Manchester, is absolutely no stranger to a storm around this time of year, but forecasters say this could be an entirely different beast.
“We should be clear that this is an unprecedented event,” warned Professor Adam Scaife, who is the Head of Long Range Forecasting at the Met Office.
“I have never seen an El Nino signal this intense in our forecasts.”
Professor Scaife concluded: “A typical El Nino leads to an equatorial Pacific sea-surface temperature rise of between one to 2°C, with 2°C being a really big event. This implies that, if the forecast is accurate, and other forecast systems show similar extreme values, then 2026 will far exceed our recent experience of El Niño and its worldwide climate influences.’
Forecasters and officials, however, have warned that it could take months of sustained rainfall before rivers, reservoirs, and groundwaters are ‘completely replenished’ – which is when a drought can officially be declared as over.
It also warned drought conditions could persist into the new year as, despite El Niño, as current forecasts do not suggest this autumn will have the amount of rainfall needed to drive recovery.