Viewers fume as Paddington pushed from TV schedule due to Dominic Cummings

Viewers were left furious after the film Paddington 2 was bumped from the BBC’s schedule on Monday after Dominic Cummings’ televised statement.

The feel good film was set to air at 7pm on BBC One round off the Bank Holiday Monday nicely.

Cummings made a statement at around 4.30pm to address allegations he had broken lockdown rules.

He did not apologise and defended travelling 260 miles to visit his parents’ home in Durham, with his son and wife who had coronavirus symptoms in late March, saying he doesn’t regret his actions.

The televised statement and following analysis pushed all of BBC’s scheduled programming back and unfortunately Paddington 2, starring Hugh Grant, was not shown.

Instead, panel show Would I Lie To You? was aired ahead of EastEnders – complete with a very pointed message from BBC One’s continuity announcer.

Cue social media outrage from people tuning in at home.

‘Paddington 2 knocked off because of politics. Family viewing replaced by a press conference when BBC have multiple channels,’ one said.

‘So cross that you have decided to cancel #paddington 2 just as it was about to start’ read another angry message on Twitter.

One tweeted: ‘Tell you what, #BorisJohnson deserves a good #Paddington stare…’ while another said: ‘Can #DominicCummngs at least apologise to all the kids looking forward to #Paddington???’

Another joked: ‘Paddington is off to give him a cold hard stare from a 2m distance, which in fact makes it even colder.’

‘Bet all Parents across the UK will be calming their Children down at this very moment after Paddington 2 was cancelled this evening on BBC One due to Dominic Cummings,’ said a disgruntled viewer.

However one person made a good argument: ‘Love that people are complaining about Paddington 2 being dropped from the TV schedules tonight. It’s been on iPlayer for months!’

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