More than 1,000 viewers have complained about the ‘excessive’ coverage of Nelson Mandela’s death on BBC services, including some who grumbled about Mrs Brown’s Boys being interrupted.
The BBC has defended the extent to which it featured the death of the former South African president, a major news item which led bulletins around the world.
By today the corporation had received 1,350 complaints about too much coverage across its news services, with some saying the emphasis had reduced the coverage of severe weather across the UK that day.
Programme chiefs broke into a repeat of BBC1 sitcom Mrs Brown’s Boys to break the news.
The BBC has defended its coverage and said Mandela’s death was of ‘considerable interest’ to audiences in the UK and across the rest of the world.
A BBC spokeswoman said the corporation had also continued to cover other major stories.
The spokeswoman today said: ‘Nelson Mandela was a hugely significant world leader with an enormous political and cultural influence across the world.
