An episode of Fireman Sam in which one character appears to tread on a page from the Quran has been withdrawn.
A scene in the children’s programme shows a fireman slipping on a pile of papers – and as they fly into the air a page from the Quran is “briefly depicted”, production firm Mattel said.
The episode was first broadcast in October 2014 on Channel 5 but the “error” has only recently been spotted.
The BBC reports that Mattel apologised and said it did not believe it was done “maliciously”. Channel 5, which broadcasts Fireman Sam, has removed the episode from its streaming website.
A Mattel spokeswoman said: “It’s just an unfortunate incident where someone from the production company thought they were just putting in random text.
“We have no reason to believe it was done maliciously.”
In a statement, Mattel said: “The page was intended to show illegible text and we deeply regret this error. We sincerely apologise for any distress or offence it may have caused.”
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It said it would “no longer be working with the animation studio responsible”, and would take “immediate action to remove this episode from circulation”.
“We are reviewing our content production procedures to ensure this never happens again,” it added.
