Channel 4 is planning to schedule a sex education series on weekday mornings when young children could be watching.
KNTV Sex is an “alternative guide to sex education” featuring animated characters who discuss issues such as contraception, sexually transmitted diseases, bisexuality and ‘coming out’.
The programme is aimed at 14 to 18-year-olds. However, the 11am slot means that on some days it could begin just as children’s programming on another terrestrial channel is ending.
It was reportedly developed with groups including the Terence Higgins Trust and The Sex Education Forum (SEF). The SEF was among the groups who called earlier this year for “gradual”sex education to begin with children as young as four.
A spokesman for Channel 4 said that the programme would be heavily “signposted” so that parents would have an opportunity to avoid it.
The channel is currently showing another sex education series an hour before the watershed.
Around 40 shocked parents contacted the media watchdog Ofcom to complain about the Sex Education Show, which includes graphic nudity and school children discussing internet pornography.
Commenting earlier this month, Conservative MP David Davies said: “This doesn’t so much seem a sex education programme as an excuse to shock people with controversy in order to boost ratings.”