‘It’s a crime’: Vera fans decry ABC’s coverage of Prince Philip’s death

Frustrated ABC viewers voiced their anger at rolling coverage of Prince Philip’s death which they said interrupted their usual viewing.

The ABC’s coverage of the death of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, has attracted criticism. Picture: AFP.

Hundreds of disgruntled ABC viewers voiced their anger at the coverage of Prince Philip’s death and said it interrupted their viewing of a long-running British crime drama.

By Monday afternoon the public broadcaster had received 435 complaints online about on-air tributes to the 99-year-old that they described as a “relatively low” number. The special coverage of the Duke of Edinburgh’s death on Friday night meant the ABC had to interrupt the scheduled viewing of a repeat of British crime drama, Vera.

“The ABC has received a relatively low 435 complaints about its overall coverage, more than three-quarters of which relate to the interruption of Vera,” the ABC said. “Other complaints were about other matters such as the duration of our coverage.”

The ABC has since said the show is available to watch on its streaming service ABC iview.

Ratings company OzTAM showed Vera drew 363,000 viewers across the five major capital cities and was the 12th most-watched program on free-to-air TV on Friday.

Rolling coverage continued throughout the night as news broke around the world of Prince Philip’s death.

The BBC cancelled its regular programming upon the news of his death and aired special coverage about his life, while news ­anchors dressed in black to pay their respects. Popular prime-time programs in Britain were replaced by the special broadcasts, including cooking program MasterChef and soap opera East Enders.

The BBC had an online form for viewers to voice their frustrations about the coverage but this was later taken down after the number of complaints peaked.

The broadcaster would not disclose how many complaints it ­received.

Prince Philip died at Windsor Castle and his funeral will be held there this Saturday at St George’s Cathedral. Only 30 members of the royal family will attend, and members of the public have been asked not to attend any service due to COVID-19 restrictions.