The BBC branded it “appalling”, while Question Time dives into “cynical prejudice” and Nigel Farage faces grilling from “rigged public”

The second section focused on Farage’s stance on immigration, but the Brexit stalwart failed to receive applause from the Birmingham audience.

Despite immigration emerging as a major issue ahead of July 4, Farage’s comments appeared to fall on deaf ears as the backlash from audience members continued.

The comments from the audience did little to reflect opinion polls on immigration, with a poll earlier this year suggesting that almost nine out of 10 UK constituencies want to see net migration reduced and controls tightened.

However, Fiona Bruce suggested that audience members reflected the views of the wider electorate, including Reform UK voters.

“Each of our two guests will face 30 minutes of questions from our audience, which represents a mix of political sentiments, including many who are still deciding and supporters of both the Greens and reform,” said the veteran BBC presenter.

Responding to Question Time, Tory special commentator Connor Tomlinson said: “This Question Time is awful. They packed the whole audience with people shouting at Nigel Farage and calling him a racist.

“Every question is identical and tiresome. If I thought Ofcom would uphold impartiality standards to the BBC, I’d complain about bias.”

Former Liberal Democrat MP Lembit Opik added: “Fiona Bruce is complicit in failing the viewing public by spending – so far – ALL of the interview on migration and racism. It is so disappointing to see the once impressive BBC sink into this cynical bias.”

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Steve Miller, who previously presented Fat Families, also said: “The BBC audience is not representative. Prejudice and it doesn’t seem aligned with what it should be.”

Other BBC viewers also seemed disappointed by the lack of support shown to Farage.

“No slap at the end for Nigel Farage tells you all you need to know about BBC audience bias,” said one. “Another absolute stitch.”

Another wrote: “Fiona Bruce stops interrupting. You and the biased BBC. This program is a joke. Tricked public.”

One critic of the UK Reform leader even admitted: “I’m no fan of Farage, but this audience is so left-wing and biased that it’s not really terrible from the BBC.”

Another viewer urged Ofcom to look into the matter, saying: Fiona Bruce and the BBC, hang your heads in shame.