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Peppa Pig’s seemingly innocent adventures have sparked unexpected controversies over the years, from angering politicians to bans over inappropriate content.
The porcine cartoon has most recently been in the headlines for the arrival of her baby sister, called Evie, with Mummy Pig’s pregnancy announcement on Good Morning Britain in February leaving viewers baffled.
But it’s not the first time Peppa and her entourage have stirred up a media frenzy. Previously, a Spanish politician blamed the cartoon for the lack of women in the construction industry, an Italian politician demanded an episode featuring LGBTQ+ polar bears be banned, and some parents have labelled the cartoon icon as ‘rude’ and ‘impatient’.
In 2004, an episode titled Mister Skinnylegs was pulled off air in Australia for messaging deemed to be ‘inappropriate’ for audiences Down Under.
The episode in question sees Peppa befriend a spider, after Daddy Pig tells her the arachnids are ‘very very small’ and ‘can’t hurt you’.
The cartoon’s titular character then proceeds to pick up the spider, letting him play with her doll’s house and offering him tea.
However, unlike in the UK, some spiders in Australia are far from harmless. The redback spider and the funnel-web spider are both venomous, and their bites can be fatal without administering antivenom.
Australian spiders certainly aren’t small, either — the huntsman’s leg span can reach up to 30cm.
The offending episode was banned from future broadcast by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) in 2012 for sending the ‘inappropriate’ message that spiders are friendly and not to be feared.
More banned TV episodes
Peppa Pig isn’t the only cartoon that has seen its most controversial episodes banned from airing.
Previously, an old episode of SpongeBob SquarePants was pulled from schedules for its inclusion of a prank that sees SpongeBob, Patrick and Mr. Krabs sneak into the houses of women in Bikini Bottom and steal their underwear.
And a 90s episode of The Simpsons was banned almost 30 years after it aired following allegations of child sexual abuse against Michael Jackson, who voiced a character in the show.
Elsewhere, an episode of The X Files proved to be so controversial that it was later banned from TV. The episode in question sees Mulder and Scully investigate the death of a baby with severe physical defects, eventually discovering that the infant had been buried alive by its family, who had been inbreeding for centuries.
Classic sitcom Frasier also has an episode that is ‘banned’ from morning scheduling on Channel 4. It involves a mix-up with a weed brownie, and it’s thought the depiction of drug use is why the channel skips it.
But that’s not the end of the story. In August 2017, the episode aired on children’s channel Nick Jr in Australia, causing controversy all over again.
A Sydney mother complained to Foxtel, an Australian pay TV service, arguing that the episode encouraged children to pick up and play with potentially dangerous spiders.
Initially, the channel refused to pull the episode, saying at the time: ‘The context of the way the spider is portrayed in the episode lessens any impact of scariness or danger; the spider does not look real, it has a smiley face and is shown in context of a show with other talking animals.’
However, Nick Jr eventually relented and removed Mister Skinnylegs from its programme rotation.
In Australia, children are taught from a young age about the dangers of spiders. Metro TV reporter Pierra Willix grew up in the country, and says: ‘I remember being taught by my parents which spiders were harmless and which were dangerous. I was always told if you see a spider with a red back, that’s bad!’
She adds: ‘I remember seeing charts and posters about which ones were deadly too.’
And Australia’s uncompromising approach to spider-related education appears to work.
According to Australian Museum, there have been no deaths from a confirmed spider bite in Australia since 1979, thanks to antivenoms for redback spiders and funnel web spiders being introduced in 1956 and 1980 respectively.
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