ITV comedy show Piglets brands Cornwall cops ‘offensive and distasteful’ to police

A new ITV comedy series called ‘Piglets’ about trainee police officers has sparked outrage among officers. Nick Jones, chairman of the Devon and Cornwall Police Federation, saw a trailer for the show and branded it “offensive and distasteful”, fearing it would lead to new recruits receiving more abuse from the public.

Set in a fictional police training college, the comedy series is based on the antics of six newly recruited police officers as they train. Sarah Parish and Mark Heap lead the cast as Superintendents, who are faced with the task of training errant trainees to fight crime.

Mr Jones was shocked when he saw a trailer for the new series: “I was blown away when I heard the name of the show. To then find out that it was meant to be a comedy and was making fun of the police stand-up, I was in disbelief. It is nothing short of offensive and distasteful.”

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“This disrespect is so degrading to our men and women who risk their lives every day. We would expect better from ITV.

“This TV show could legitimize people using that term against officers and lead to even more abuse than we currently have. The producers may not recognize how much the officers are undermining them.

“Our colleagues who work hard and keep people safe are under relentless pressure at the moment. Officers work incredibly hard, day in and day out, serving the public and doing everything they can for our communities. This show makes fun of our trainee cops when we already get relentless negativity from the media.

“We have a finite amount of resources dealing with exponential demand. We’ve had new recruits come in and say they had no idea officers were treated so badly on the streets and how volatile it is when they’re dealing with that exposure for the first time.

“The name of this show is a very unnecessary term and threatens to undermine a public sector that is already under so much pressure.”

Piglets will air in July on ITV1 primetime and ITVX.