BBC Scotland’s Hogmanay sketch show has triggered many SNP supporters by poking fun at Peter Murrell and Nicola Sturgeon’s ongoing legal issues.
The former SNP chief executive has been charged with embezzlement of party funds as part of Operation Branchform, the long-running probe into the whereabouts of around £600,000 of allegedly missing donations.
His wife, the former party leader, remains a suspect in the police investigation, which saw officers seize a motorhome worth £110,000 from the driveway of Murrell’s mother’s home in Dunfermline.
This provided the inspiration for the sketch on Queen of the New Year, in which the couple were played by Elizabeth Caproni and Stephen Buchanan.
READ MORE: Operation Branchform investigation costs continue to spiral as total nears £2m
It is set to music from the soundtrack of True Romance (You’re So Cool by Hans Zimmer), in which Patricia Arquette and Christian Slater play newlyweds on the run from both the Mafia and the law after stealing a shipment of drugs.
In the sketch, Sturgeon and Murrell call each other ‘Pumpkin’ and ‘Honey Bunny’, in a reference to another Quentin Tarantino movie from the 1990s – Pulp Fiction. The nicknames are used by Amanda Plummer and Tim Roth’s characters before they attempt to rob a diner.
At the end of the clip, after Murrell’s card is declined at a remote Highland shop, the couple flee in a motor home pursued by police cars with sirens blaring and lights flashing (another apparent True Romance reference).
The sketch show, which was created by Still Game star Greg Hemphill and Robert Florence from Burnistoun, also poked fun at Prince Andrew, Donald Trump and Scotland manager Steve Clarke.
But it was the Sturgeon and Murrell scene that annoyed many, including – it seems – the former first minister’s sister, Gillian. She posted on Facebook: “Shocking what I’ve just watched on BBC. Making comedy out of a farce of a police investigation that real people are suffering from.”
The post on Gillian Sturgeon’s public Facebook page
Another person complained: “I found it as funny as vd personally. I’m embarrassed for the ‘comedians’.”
One even said they would be cancelling their TV licence “like hundreds of thousands in Scotland have already done”, adding “the BBC will never get another penny after the way they treat our people”.
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