Mum's outrage as banned Peppa Pig episode is aired

It’s the popular cartoon, watched by millions of Aussie children.

But when Peppa Pig’s UK creators made an episode entitled Mister Skinny Legs, the ABC decided to ban the five minute story from airing, saying it sent an “unsuitable” message.

The move came after a viewer complained in 2012 that it encouraged kids to play with spiders, and given Australia has some of the deadliest in the world, it was sending the wrong message.

So, when the episode aired on a Friday morning on Foxtel’s Nick Jr (a Nickelodeon channel), one Sydney mother was outraged.

Jess, told Essential Baby she complained about the episode but the channel’s response only upset her more.

"Nickelodeon has sent me an email that they're going to still play the episode because apparently the spider looks friendly and it's in a friendly environment" the mother-of-one said.

"And the safety of children comes on the parents and it's not their responsibility."

They also noted that ABC elected to restrict the episode but it had not officially been banned by a regulatory body.

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However, it seems the network has since had a change of heart.

“Nick Jr. prides itself in creating a safe environment for its audience and bases all programming decisions upon internal guidelines in accordance with all Australian regulatory and legal obligations," a Nickelodeon spokesperson told 9Honey in a statement on Tuesday.

“While the episode does meet our criteria, after careful consideration we have made the programming decision to remove it from the Nick Jr. rotation.”

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In Mister Skinny Legs, a spider is shown being picked up and played with by both Peppa and her younger brother George as they have a tea party in her dolls house.

Young George is the first to pick up the spider by it’s web with his bare hands, something Peppa also does later in the episode once she gets over her fear.

There’s also a the fact that Daddy Pig tells Peppa: “Spiders are very very small. And they can't hurt you”.

In 2014, in Sydney alone, paramedics attended 319 spider-related incidents, according to The Telegraph.