When Pigs Cry: UK Cop Association Condemns Title of New TV Series
Police association decries ‘Piglets,’ accidentally boosts movement to ‘Defund The Police’.
By Katie Compa · July 13, 2024
Disclaimer: While this article is sizzling with facts, it does also contain a rind of satire, which if not cooked correctly, will leave a grisly taste in your mouth.
Britain’s ITV network, home to soaps like Emmerdale and Coronation Street, the O.G. Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and cozy mystery juggernaut Midsomer Murders, recently debuted a show called “Piglets”—and it doesn’t take place on a farm.
No, this “programme” is a comedy about humans—namely (obviously!) new recruits to the police force who attend training at a fictional cop college.
In 2019, Britain’s Conservative leadership pledged, to much fanfare, that they would recruit 20,000 new cops—after cutting the force, including many experienced officers, by about the same number during the first part of their reign, but before being roundly defeated by the UK’s voters earlier this month. Tory logic and its fruits: you love to see it.
In the course of writing this article, we learned that British criminals originated using “pig” against cops in particular, with its use dating as far back as an 1811 physical Urban Dictionary. The insult didn’t catch on in the States until the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, and ever since, cops have been quite sensitive about the comparison.
The Police Federation of England & Wales came in hot in response to ITV’s announcement of the new show, calling it a “disgusting choice of language to use for the title of a TV programme,” adding that the name is “highly offensive to police officers risking their lives to protect the public every day, providing an emergency service.”
ITV responded that: “Piglets is a fictional new comedy about a police training academy and the title is not intended to cause any offence [sic], it’s a comedic and endearing play on words to emphasise [sic] the innocence and youth of our young trainees,” adding, “Does anyone else smell bacon?”
Keep in mind that most police in England don’t even carry guns since over there, civilians can’t buy ammo out of a vending machine. This is not to say that they aren’t risking their lives, okay, but on the other hand, writing and issuing a public statement that the name of a TV series hurt their constabulary fee-fees doesn’t give us a ton of confidence that they could protect and serve us in a jam (honestly, it calls for some introspection—may we suggest journaling about it, privately?). If you’re looking for us, we’ll be trying our luck at the ammo vending machine.