There is nothing remotely funny or amusing about paedophilia. That's a given. And, to be fair to Brass Eye, it didn't try to make it so. What it did attempt to do was ridicule the press and media's treatment of the subject. However, this fine distinction, which is arguable at best, was lost along the way and [Chris Morris] and his crew now stand accused of making what one newspaper has described as "the sickest programme ever". If nothing else it proves that satire is a dangerous weapon in the hands of a loose cannon like Chris Morris.

So did Chris Morris go too far? Mike Bolland, head of comedy at BBC Scotland and, in a former life, the man who commissioned for C4 such controversial shows as The Comic Strip and Who Dares Wins, certainly believes he did.

As the not-so-merry prankster he has no television equal. Remember the previous Brass Eye sketch about the Yorkshire Ripper? Sutcliffe: The Musical, emblazoned in neon lights above Piccadilly Circus? No? Well, that's understandable. The episode in which it featured was pulled at the last minute by C4's chief executive at the time, Michael Grade. Then, when it was eventually screened (without the Sutcliffe piece) three months later, the mischievous Morris took his revenge by including the subliminal message "Michael Grade is a c***."