South Park attracts six times usual audience

Six times the usual number of people who watched the South Park television show tuned in for the controversial "Bloody Mary" episode last night.

The episode in which Mary squirts menstrual blood onto the face of the Pope, was watched by 210,000 people when it screened on CanWest's youth channel C4.

CanWest's chief operations officer Rick Friesen said he was surprised at the number.

"I expected a bit of a rise, but not that much," he said.

"Because of the controversy there was a heightened interest in [the episode]."

Mr Friesen said nearly 210,000 people over the age of five had watched the episode, which was more than six times the usual number.

The average number of people watching South Park each week in the month leading up to the "Bloody Mary" episode was around 32,500.

Mr Friesen said there had been a total of four calls to the station during and after the episode -- two supporting it, and two against it.

However, there had been "hundreds" of calls leading up to the airing.

"Once we started running the programme there wasn't any point complaining or trying to stop it running ... so then it was just a matter of 'Do I like the show or don't I?' and normally not a lot of people will comment on that anyway, which is very typical for our programming."

Despite calls for an advertising boycott, Mr Friesen said there had been no withdrawal of advertising from CanWest TV stations.

Yesterday Max Recruitment managing director Patrick Quin cancelled advertising worth $6000 a month with CanWest radio stations in protest against screening the programme.

Catholic Church spokeswoman Lyndsay Freer said the episode, which she watched on the internet a few weeks ago, was gratuitously offensive.

"In a secular society some people are not able to understand the depth of feeling, loyalty and love that others have towards those things that make them who they are -- their culture, tradition, their religious faith or nationality."

Mrs Freer, who is a South Park fan, said she believed New Zealanders were trying to create a society that was respectful and inclusive and that meant everybody had a social responsibility to be respectful to others.

"Freedom of speech has to be tempered with responsibility."

She said broadcasting standards guidelines in New Zealand called for decency, fairness and good taste.

"CanWest doesn't have it's finger on the pulse of Kiwi decency."

- NZPA