A Channel 4 programme about sex education that showed men's genitals before the 9pm watershed has sparked complaints from nutters.

The Sex Education Show was billed as a ground-breaking series which tackled the nation's ignorance and offered the biology lesson you never had.

However, viewers complained to the television watchdog that the first episode of the six-part series should not have been broadcast at 8pm.

Among the scenes was a discussion about safe sex in which a doctor uses vegetables to teach a group of young men how to put on a condom correctly. In another segment a doctor examines a man's genitals and explains how it functions during a sex education lesson.

Shouldn't this programme have been shown post-watershed? said one viewer during an online discussion about the show. Another said: Channel 4, we're not shocked any more. Do stop these infantile and puerile programmes on sex and start making decent documentaries. Put it away please, nobody's impressed.

Ofcom said it was looking into the programme after receiving 25 complaints.

Channel 4 defended the series saying it offered viewers important advice aimed at reducing teenage pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. We did get a small number of complaints. The programme was aimed at families and we hope it will form a starting point for a family discussion about the issues raised.

Channel 4's The Sex Education Show continues to shock some viewers – with a close-up examination of male and female genitalia before the 9pm watershed.

A spokeswoman for TV censor Ofcom said nearly 20 viewers had already complained about last night's programme, which aired at 8pm.

The show's host Anna Richardson discussed sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in the second episode – going with five men as they got tested for them at a clinic - and showing schoolchildren disturbing images of infected private parts, some of which reduced them to tears.

In another scene a doctor pointed out the parts of a vagina to viewers on a real-life naked model.

Update: Whinges

7th October 2008

Channel 4 received 173 complaints about The Sex Education Show.

A Channel 4 programme described as a frank exploration of the love and sex lives of today's teenagers, has predictably wound up the nutters of Mediawatch-UK.

The series The Joy Of Teen Sex goes out after the watershed on January 19 and contains depictions of lesbian sex and also offers a guide to anal sex.

The series is fronted by Dr Rachael Jones, social worker Ruth Corden, and resident sex coach Joanna.

According to Channel 4, it revolves around visitors to a walk-in clinic, the Sex Advice Shop, where the team are on hand to offer young people, and sometimes their parents, support and professional advice.

A Channel 4 spokesperson said:

Sex is part of every teenager's life. This new series is not your typical sex education programme. It offers a frank exploration of the love and sex lives of today's teenagers. It presents solutions to the emotional and physical problems that many of them experience.

No subject is off-limits, from teen pregnancy to sexual performance and genital health as the series will shine the spotlight on issues that young people care about and experience in their love and sex lives.

Mediawatch-UK spokeswoman Vivienne Pattison said:

The series goes much further than The Sex Education Show [another C4 show]. It is basically titillation television. It crossed the prurient line.

I'm also concerned about the title. If you put 'teen sex' into an internet search engine, you can imagine the sort of images you will get. That's who will be attracted to this programme. It's soft porn. It's aimed at arousing the audience.

This programme comes along when we're having a serious debate on the sexualisation of children, led by Prime Minister David Cameron. There is a real question in the role of programmes like this in this whole mess that we have created for ourselves.