There have been more than 500 complaints about the violence in ITV’s new teatime drama Jekyll and Hyde – with its opening minute including a man being bludgeoned to death, before various other scenes that might be considered disturbing. Prior to the show’s launch, its writer, Charlie Higson, said children would enjoy the content, adding, “they love all that stuff. You never want to dumb it down. There’s enough fantasy element to it. We don’t do squirting blood, torn-off limbs. [But] kids know what they can deal with. I’ve always maintained it is good to scare children.”
There’s no doubt that most of us encountered frightening TV shows and films when we were kids – but which ones bothered you the most? Are there films that you still avoid in the run-up to Halloween? Did you find Slimer from Ghostbusters surprisingly haunting? Is there an image from a 1970s-era episode of Doctor Who that will forever remain burned on your retinas? And do you think that the fears these images provoked were harmful in the short term – or the long term?
