Channel 4 says it is responding to a “shift in the public mood” by cutting down the amount of swearing in its programmes.
The channel’s Chief Executive, Andy Duncan, said programmes such as Jamie’s Ministry of Food and Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares USA had attracted criticism for their heavy use of expletives.
Speaking to The Sunday Telegraph, Mr Duncan said: “There’s probably something of a shift in the public mood and appetite around this and of course we’re sensitive to that.
“There were a couple of areas where people came and said ‘hang on a minute, is there too much swearing going on?’ You always need to be in tune with what your viewers and audience think.
“I do think generally across the whole industry, and I would include Channel 4 in that, there is a shift in the public mood and we are adjusting accordingly.”
Earlier this year the BBC announced a new plan to cut out swearing for an extra hour after the 9pm watershed.
The publicly-funded broadcaster’s own research revealed that a third of viewers had raised “unprompted” concerns about bad language.
The research also showed that 46 per cent of viewers thought TV standards had fallen in recent years in the areas of morality, values and behaviour.
In October BBC presenters Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross were disciplined after they left crude phone messages for elderly actor Andrew Sachs as part of a practical joke.
The BBC received more than 18,000 complaints about the stunt which was broadcast on Radio Two.