Aside from the victory for free speech, I’m pleased the broadcast went ahead as I found it pretty enjoyable. It seemed a little unfocussed thematically but it made good use of recurring musical themes and the case gave some great performances.

A couple of moments seemed to reference the musical Chicago (of which I only know what I saw on Musicality) and the tap-dancing Ku Klux Klan members at the end of Act I reminded me of the classic high-kicking Nazis from The Producers. I noticed the face of former Stewart Lee collaborator Simon Munnery on the satirical gun commerical.

There was a lot of a swearing but I somehow managed to sit through the whole thing and not contract Tourette’s as a result. Once you’ve heard the word “fuck” ten or twenty times, what’s another hundred? It might be vulgar, but does it do any harm? If anything, such over-use of the f- and c-words serves only to reduce their impact in future. I had 888 subtitles on as some of the lyrics were hard to make out; I don’t think I’ve seen the c-word on teletext before…

According to the BBC, “Early indications suggested Jerry Springer – The Opera was watched by twice the number of 16-34 year-olds than normally expected for opera.” While a comparison with musicals, rather than classical operas, might be more appropriate, that’s good news. The BBC also said that “it had received 317 calls since the broadcast, more than half of which had been supportive.”

Meanwhile, the National Director of Christian Voice has announced that they will mount a private prosecution of the BBC under the blasphemy act. This is very welcome, although I have to wonder why the organisation didn’t act against these apparently terrible blasphemies during the two years the show has been running in the West End. If successful, the prosecution will prove that the blasphemy laws are not benign and should be repealed from the statute book.

It appears that the BBC has been so overwhelmed by the number of emails about Jerry Springer – The Opera that they have resorted to a standard response to all of them, as if all of them were complaints. This may well mean the total number of “complaints” includes emails backing the transmission.

I received one of these replies to my email – for an example of its contents, see Doctorvee and Nick Barlow.

See Ryan’s blog for suggestions of how to show support following the broadcast.

The Fifth Annual Weblog Awards are open for nominations. There are all sorts of catergories, from Best Meme and Best Tagline of a Weblog to Best Entertainment Weblog and Weblog of the Year. The more people who put nominations forward, the more representative the nominees will be. You don’t have to nominate in every category and you can nominate up to three candidates (four for Weblog of the Year) in each category.

My e-mail to the Beeb. You can contact them at info@bbc.co.uk.

Dear BBC,

I am concerned at the large number of complaints you appear to have received in advance of Saturday’s scheduled screening of “Jerry Springer – the Opera”.

This show has been performed to thousands of theatregoers in two years in the West End. It has won critical plaudits and continues to draw in audiences. I was pleased to hear that the BBC would be translating the show to screen and therefore allowing interested viewers such as myself, who have been unable to see the opera on stage, to experience it and judge it for ourselves.

While the content of the programme will no doubt prove offensive to some people, the already high profile campaign against the broadcast should serve to warn off any viewers likely to be offended. (And yet I can’t help the nagging feeling that many of those will, perversely, tune in anyway to justify their subsequent complaints to OFCOM.) As a public service broadcaster, the BBC has a responsibility to all licence payers, not just the “moral majority”. While I find various programmes to enjoy amongst the BBC’s output, there are many shows I would never watch. This is how it should be. A BBC pandering solely to the prurience of organisations such as MediaWatch is a BBC for a vocal minority. The BBC must continue to show a diverse and challenging range of programming.

I am pleased that the BBC has insisted that “Jerry Springer – The Opera” will be shown and I hope you will continue to defend your position robustly. I look forward to watching the show on Saturday night.