''Bring Your Husband To Heel'' is a "hidden camera" documentary series produced by

Talkback Thames Talkback Thames (stylised as talkbackTHAMES) was a British television production company, a division of Fremantle (part of the RTL Group, which in turn is owned by Bertelsmann). It was formed by the merger of Talkback Productions and Thames Tel ...

and shown on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

in 2005. The show featured a professional dog trainer,

Annie Clayton Annie may refer to: People and fictional characters * Annie (given name), a given name and a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Annie (actress) (born 1975), Indian actress * Annie (singer) (born 1977), Norwegian singer The ...

, teaching women to use dog training techniques to improve the behaviour of their husbands. The men participating in the programme were told that they were actually taking part in a show about relationship roles. The BBC received a large number of complaints about the show, with some claiming the show was "sexist, offensive and degrading", "grossly insulting", and "insulting to men and insulting the intelligence of women". The BBC claimed the series "plays on the long-standing stereotype of wives nagging husbands about their failings".

Ofcom The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-ranging powers acros ...

later ruled that the show was not sexist: "It was clear from the context that the programme was not seriously proposing a demeaning view of men." In the ''

Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...

'', the TV critic

Victor Lewis-Smith Victor Lewis-Smith (12 May 1957 – 10 December 2022) was a British film, television and radio producer, a television and restaurant critic, a satirist and newspaper columnist. He was executive producer of the ITV1 Annual National Food & Drin ...

described the programme as "brainless dross", criticized the BBC for commissioning the series and said that "you'd have to have an IQ commensurate with your shoe size to find this old boot

layton Layton or The Laytons may refer to: Places United States * Layton, Florida, a city * Layton, Indiana, an unincorporated community * Layton Township, Pottawattamie County, Iowa * Layton, New Jersey, an unincorporated community * Layton, Pennsyl ...

entertaining".

Garry Bushell Garry Bushell (born 13 May 1955) is an English newspaper columnist, rock music journalist, television presenter, author, musician and political activist. Bushell also sings in the Cockney Oi! bands GBX and the Gonads. He managed the New York Ci ...

listed it as the worst new show of 2005 in a column in ''The People''. According to a report in October 2007 in ''Cape Times'', the show also aired in South Africa on BBC Prime.

References

{{Reflist BBC Television shows 2005 British television series debuts 2005 British television series endings British non-fiction television series