Jeremy Clarkson joke irks viewers

By Tim Castle

LONDON (Reuters) - More than 500 viewers have called the BBC to complain about a joke about murdering prostitutes made by presenter Jeremy Clarkson on the motoring programme Top Gear, the publicly funded broadcaster said on Tuesday.

Clarkson, 48, was shown driving an articulated truck during Sunday's show, which attracted an audience of 7 million.

"This is a hard job and I'm not just saying this to win favour with lorry drivers, it's a hard job," he said.

"Change gear, change gear, change gear, check your mirrors, murder a prostitute, change gear, change gear, murder. That's a lot of effort in a day."

Top Gear is one of the BBC's most popular programmes and is known for its edgy humour and banter.

By Monday morning 188 viewers had complained, rising to 517 on Tuesday morning following media coverage of Clarkson's comments.

The protests come after the resignation last week of Radio 2 head Lesley Douglas over the broadcast of a lewd prank call to Fawlty Towers actor Andrew Sachs by chat show host Jonathan Ross and comedian Russell Brand.

A spokeswoman for the English Collective of Prostitutes (ECP) told BBC television that Clarkson's broadcast was worse than the Sachs stunt, which prompted more than 30,000 complaints following a campaign in the Daily Mail.