ITV viewers have branded the new comedy show Piglets as “dreadful” following its premiere tonight (Saturday, July 20).

The show follows the story of six new police recruits working at Norbourne Police Training College, trained by no-nonsense Superintendent Julie Spry and the less-strict Superintendent Bob Weekes.

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 created and written by Robert Harley, the comedy writer behind the likes of Green Wing, Smack the Pony and Campus.

When the ITV show's name was announced it faced mixed reactions with the Police Federation of England and Wales calling the name Piglets “Highly offensive”.

They added that the use of the word 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”.

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.”

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Taking to X, formally Twitter, to discuss ITV’s latest comedy show, one viewer described it as 'dreadful', sharing: "#Piglets looks rubbish. And what dreadful title."

Another said, "#Piglets quite concerned by the name of the show - seems to be alluding to a long forgotten 70s insult for the police which doesn't need digging up!"

A third added: "Well this won’t be getting a second series."

Others didn't mind the show's name as one viewer said: "They always say the first minutes in a comedy is the most important. Already the first scene (*police chase and the new male getting out & entering the gates*) is a great laugh to start the show."