I can decide for myself what offends me on TV, thanks.

There was a report on one of the Sunday papers recently suggesting that the anti-tobacco lobby group, ASH, had criticised RTE’s drama series Striking Out because some of the characters were seen smoking cigarettes.

ASH chairman Patrick Doorley, revealed the lobby group had written a letter of complaint to RTE about the “normalising” of cigarettes through showing smoking on screen. It also contacted the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI).

ASH says it is concerned about scenes in Striking Out which portray two characters smoking heavily in an office. There were two smoking scenes in the first episode of the second series of the legal drama and the letter questions RTE’s policy on the portrayal of smoking in their programmes.

Mr. Doorley is obviously a man with time on his hands. I get that he doesn’t like smoking and would like to stamp it out and, he’s concerned that we might be rushing outside to light up once the programme is over.

But I can make up my own mind and it annoys me that he is trying to influence what the rest of us can or can’t watch on TV. I presume the programme in question is trying to be realistic when depicting scenes of ordinary life and, in the real world, some people do smoke and to ignore that fact would be a bit foolish.

Colin Coyle had a piece in the Sunday Times about another complaint that was made to the BAI.

A lady called Niamh Turley, made a complaint about a scene on the RTE2 comedy show Bridget & Eamon in which Eamon, a character with ginger hair and a ginger beard, suggested going upstairs with Bridget’s mother. She responded: “With the lights off so I can’t tell that you’re ginger.”

Turley complained that this remark was “racist” and demonstrated “discrimination and prejudice against people with different hair colour”. She argued such casual racism promoted bullying against redheads, leading to “alienation”.

Thankfully, the BAI used some common sense and said that suggesting someone with ginger hair is unattractive does not constitute discrimination and concluded that “people with red hair are not considered a separate ‘race’ or group in society”, and therefore did not require specific protection under the BAI code.

Where is this nonsense going to end?

I watched a film on TV the other night called Calvary with Brendan Gleeson and it was made in Sligo. In one scene, Brendan, who plays the part of a priest, went to the pub and drank his loaf off. It was an excellent scene, but it didn’t encourage me to go down to my local and get plastered.

Two other guys in the pub with him were sharing a joint. I have never smoked cannabis or injected myself with heroin and that scene didn’t send me to to the dark net or to my nearest drug dealer to get a fix.

There was another character in the film who was in prison and from what I could gather, he had eaten some of his victims. An Irish version of Hannibal Lecter if you like. Brendan Gleeson went to visit him in the prison because he asked to see a priest. Brendan went along with the request thinking that the guy was looking for forgiveness for having these strange dietary requirements.

They had a chat and the villain of the piece explained how he thought that human flesh tasted like turkey meat. Whether it does or not I have absolutely no idea and neither do I have any desire to find out. Having watched this footage, I am no more inclined to go out and eat my neighbour than I was before I saw it.

There was another scene where the priest went to the pub and he had a bit of a row with the publican. He pulled out a gun and started taking pot shots at the various optics and bottles behind the bar. There were bullets and broken glass flying in all directions.

I enjoy going to Tom Kelly’s for a quiet pint and I think I get on ok with the gang there. We might disagree on some things from time to time but, I can assure Mr. Doorley, that I’m not likely to head off to the pub with my AK47 even after watching this film.

The film ended with Brendan Gleeson confronting the villain of the film, on a beach. That demented soul had been abused by a priest in his younger days and carried a lot of hatred towards the clergy around with him. He had issues.

He decided that the best way for him to resolve those issues was to kill Brendan, so he pulled out a gun and shot him in the head spilling blood and guts onto the sand.

If a person had a mind to, they could find a lot to crib about in that film. Sligo Tidy Towns could have an issue with depicting the beach as being a suitable location for spreading human innards. Gun clubs could moan that firearms were being used to promote violence. Pacifists could be offended by the portrayal of violence as a way of solving problems.

If the cribbers had their way, this film would never have seen the light of day. To meet their standards the entire film would have been shot in one room with Brendan Gleeson talking to himself. He wouldn’t have cursed, he wouldn’t have had a drink, he wouldn’t have had a gun and he wouldn’t have made a mess on the beach.

It’s television, it’s entertainment, it’s make believe and most of us can decide for ourselves the difference between reality and fiction. I personally don’t need Mr. Doorley, Ms. Turley or anyone else acting as a censor on my behalf.