"There are apparently people who happily park their children in front of fictionalised drug abuse, prostitution and murder without batting an eye," she wrote, "yet regurgitate their own dinner at the sight of two people of the same sex lying on a mattress."

She added: "It's time this was acknowledged. The "I'm not a homophobe but … " mantra – a predominant piece of nonsense spouted in response to homosexuality (and funnily enough, the opening line of the chosen POV complaint) – can still seemingly leave the mouth without many blushing or feeling any sensation close to shame. It invariably is followed by a statement that confirms the speaker is very much a homophobe, traditionally by an objection to "explicitness" or a plea for someone to protect the children."

Luckily the BBC did not apologize for the actual scene, just for some people's discomfort. Hopefully this will steal the broadcaster to continue to include real, three-dimensional gay characters in more of its programming.