ITV’s director of television has said he’s “not so worried” about the large number of Ofcom complaints Love Island received this year. 

Some 24,763 people complained to the television watchdog after a row between contestants Faye Winter and Teddy Soares.

Winter launched into a lengthy outburst at Soares after the islanders were played a clip of him telling Casa Amor contestant Clarisse Juliette that he was attracted to her.

Many fans thought Love Island producers should have stepped in, but asked if he agreed that ITV overstepped the mark with the episode, executive Kevin Lygo, said: “No, the thing about complaints these days is every week there is a new most-complained-about show.

“It’s very easy now to complain, it wasn’t so long ago you had to go to the Post Office and get a stamp and write a letter, now it’s the click of a button.

“I’m not so worried about how many complain as what they are complaining about, and have they got a point, and did we overstep the mark or did we not?”

He said improvements needed to be made across the board with the duty of care and that ITV was the “gold standard”.

“The ratings go up when there is a bit of conflict, and it is an area where you have to take a bit of editorial judgment,” he added.

“I think generally speaking they get the tone right; people do shout at other people, as long as it’s not physically threatening, it’s not too inflammatory, it’s okay. But for some people, it might have stepped too far.”

Mr Lygo also denied Love Island had peaked but acknowledged producers faced the challenge of trying to “spice it up” for future series.

Almost three million people watched the final on 23 August, when Liam Reardon and Millie Court were crowned winners – down 22% from the previous year’s final.

Speaking to the Edinburgh TV festival, he said: “I don’t think it has peaked, I think this is a pattern that you see when new programmes come along and they are huge phenomenons.

“On catch-up, it’s certainly the best performing series ever, the overnights are still really strong, most nights it’s the most-watched show at 9pm anywhere.

“There are many years left in it and I think the challenge thrown down to producers – and let’s give them a bit of credit, through a pandemic they managed to make a show every single night – is to make some subtle change to spice it up a bit and make it as fresh as you can.”

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