Peppa Pig episode banned in Australia due to ‘spiders can’t hurt you’ message
The episode aired on pay TV despite being deemed inappropriate for audiences in Australia, home to many dangerous spiders

An episode of the children’s cartoon Peppa Pig has been banned in Australia after the message “spiders can't hurt you” was deemed inappropriate for Aussie audiences.
The episode, Mister Skinny Legs, written by Alison Snowden, is about a large spider “which an initially fearful Peppa befriends, before picking the giggling arachnid up, feeding him tea and cake and tucking him into bed in her doll house”, says the Daily Telegraph.
The cartoon show ends with Peppa declaring: “We are all going to have tea with Mister Skinny Legs”.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
During the episode Peppa’s father tells her: “There’s no need to be afraid. Spiders are very, very small and they can’t hurt you.”
This advice from the British show was deemed to be “inappropriate for Australian audiences” and the Australian Broadcasting Company banned it from future broadcast.
Despite the ban, the episode was accidentally published online before being aired again on Nickelodeon channel Nick Jr on August 25 this year.
According to Australian website Essential Baby, a Sydney mother watching Peppa Pig with her daughter switched the episode off and complained to pay TV provider Foxtel about the programme.
Nick Jr originally defended the decision to air the episode, saying the episode is “light-hearted, friendly and very mild in impact”.
“The context of the way the spider is portrayed in the episode lessens any impact of scariness or danger; the spider does not look real, it has a smiley face and is shown in context of a show with other talking animals,” it said.
But after being contacted by Australian media, Nick Jr said it would remove the episode from programming rotation, despite continuing to maintain that it “does meet our criteria” for broadcast.
“Not all Australian spiders are 'very, very small' and some can hurt you,” warns The Guardian. In fact, Australia is home to some of the most venomous spiders in the world, including the redback and wolf spider.
According to the Australian Museum, around 2,000 people are bitten each year by red back spiders, but fatalities are extremely rare.
A man reportedly died from a redback spider bite in April last year in “the first fatality from a spider bite in more than 30 years”, says the Evening Standard.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Book reviews: ‘Red Scare: Blacklists, McCarthyism, and the Making of Modern America’ and ‘How to End a Story: Collected Diaries, 1978–1998’
Feature A political ‘witch hunt’ and Helen Garner’s journal entries
By The Week US Published
-
The backlash against ChatGPT's Studio Ghibli filter
The Explainer The studio's charming style has become part of a nebulous social media trend
By Theara Coleman, The Week US Published
-
Why are student loan borrowers falling behind on payments?
Today's Big Question Delinquencies surge as the Trump administration upends the program
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
'Like a sound from hell': Serbia and sonic weapons
The Explainer Half a million people sign petition alleging Serbian police used an illegal 'sound cannon' to disrupt anti-government protests
By Abby Wilson Published
-
The arrest of the Philippines' former president leaves the country's drug war in disarray
In the Spotlight Rodrigo Duterte was arrested by the ICC earlier this month
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
Ukrainian election: who could replace Zelenskyy?
The Explainer Donald Trump's 'dictator' jibe raises pressure on Ukraine to the polls while the country is under martial law
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
Why Serbian protesters set off smoke bombs in parliament
THE EXPLAINER Ongoing anti-corruption protests erupted into full view this week as Serbian protesters threw the country's legislature into chaos
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Who is the Hat Man? 'Shadow people' and sleep paralysis
In Depth 'Sleep demons' have plagued our dreams throughout the centuries, but the explanation could be medical
By The Week Staff Published
-
The Aussie beach cabana drama
Row over using tents to reserve a spot on the sand has even drawn in the prime minister
By Elizabeth Carr-Ellis, The Week UK Published
-
Why Assad fell so fast
The Explainer The newly liberated Syria is in an incredibly precarious position, but it's too soon to succumb to defeatist gloom
By The Week UK Published
-
Romania's election rerun
The Explainer Shock result of presidential election has been annulled following allegations of Russian interference
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published