A new ITV comedy is arriving on screens this week, as Piglets a show facing backlash for its controversial title arrives on the broadcaster.

Piglets follows the stories of six new police recruits working at Norbourne Police Training College.

Training the group is nonsense Superintendent Julie Spry and the less-strict Superintendent Bob Weekes, are tasked with making the recruits the perfect group of officers.

All of the six rookies have motives for being there, but some are more legitimate than others, with misguided romantic entanglements and silly gags ensuing.

Piglets was written by Robert Harley, a comedy writer behind many acclaimed shows including the likes of Green Wing, Smack the Pony, Los Dos Bros, The Delivery Man and Campus.

ITV Piglets full cast list

  • Supt Bob Weekes: Mark Heap
  • Supt Julie Spry: Sarah Parish
  • Sgt Mike Gunn: Ukweli Roach
  • Ch Supt Cunningham: Colin McFarlane
  • Leggo: Sam Pote
  • Afia: Halema Hussain
  • Dev: Abdul Sessay
  • Jamie: Jamie Bisping
  • Steph: Callie Cooke
  • Sgt Daz Black: Ricky Champ
  • Melanie: Rebecca Humphries
  • Geeta: Sukh Jaur Ojla

How to watch Piglets

Piglets will air on ITV1 every Saturday night starting on Saturday, July 20 from 9.30pm until 10pm across six weeks for a six-episode series.

The new comedy show is also available to watch on the ITV streaming service ITVX.

Why is ITV’s new TV show Piglets controversial?

The ITV’s latest comedy show was condemned by the police naming the title Piglets “Highly offensive”.

Following the announcement of the title in early July, the Police Federation of England and Wales said it was a “disgusting choice of language to use for the title of a TV programme”.

Acting national chair Tiffany Lynch described the name of the ITV show as “highly offensive to police officers risking their lives to protect the public every day, providing an emergency service”.

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She added that the title was “inflammatory against a landscape of rising threats and violence against officers and added: “We should not be put at further risk for viewing numbers, our officers deserve respect, not humiliation for the job they are undertaking.

“It is incredibly dangerous to incite more negativity and misinformation against a public sector service that’s already under so much pressure.”

In response to the concern made by the Police Federation of England and Wales. ITV said: “Piglets is a fictional new comedy about a police training academy and the title is not intended to cause any offence, it’s a comedic and endearing play on words to emphasise the innocence and youth of our young trainees.”