The North's Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness took on a new role yesterday as a TV critic when he took a swipe at long-running soap operas EastEnders and Coronation Street.
At a news conference after a meeting of the British-Irish Council in Dublin, which discussed the abuse of drugs and alcohol, Mr McGuinness said: "I'm not a fan of EastEnders or Coronation Street but my wife and my children, particularly the girls, watch the programme.
"I have to say I am absolutely appalled at the level of concentration around the pub in that programme, the drunkenness that is quite clear for everybody to see, and all of that before the nine o'clock watershed when children as young as eight, nine, 10, 11, 12 years of age are watching. Now I regard that as irresponsible broadcasting and I think something should be done about it."
The Sinn Féin Minister spoke of the two serials as if they were a single programme. Corrie, as it is also known, is made by ITV and much of the action takes place in the Rover's Return pub. EastEnders is a BBC production, with many scenes located in the Queen Vic hostelry. They are screened here by TV3 and RTÉ, respectively, neither of whom accepted the McGuinness critique.
A TV3 spokeswoman said: "Coronation Street has been set around the Rover's Return for 40 years now and is a high-quality drama with a massive following in Ireland. Its popularity is across all age groups and there would be uproar if it was taken off the schedule. We receive no complaints about its content and it fully complies with pre-watershed regulation."
An RTÉ spokesman said: "Almost every soap has a pub in it because it is a very convenient device in a practical sense to get people together indoors. It means you can shoot in any weather and any light because people can meet otherwise than on the street, which is subject to problems with weather and light.
"All soaps are regarded as pre-watershed and they are designed to be shown for family viewing. Most producers actually minimise the amount of serious drinking in pubs.
" My experience of politicians is that they watch very little television. They are almost the worst people for commenting on it. They tend to watch news and current affairs late at night. Fair City has a pub, it also has a coffee bar, but we limit the amount of pub scenes and alcohol consumed."
