Archbishop of Canterbury criticises ITV's Footballers' Wives

In an Easter message, the Archbishop of Canterbury has condemned the selfish lifestyle exemplified by ITV's hit show Footballers' Wives.

10:13 28 March 2004

In an Easter message, the Archbishop of Canterbury has condemned the selfish lifestyle exemplified by ITV's hit show Footballers' Wives. Dr Rowan Williams encouraged Christians the "different kinds of selfish behaviour" represented in the show.

Dr Williams said God has given space to all and that the show's characters unnecessarily treated each other as rivals for the same space.

He said the programme portrayed a world without good qualities like charity and fairness and it seems that the programme makers agree with him.

Eileen Gallagher of Shed Productions told the Observer newspaper: "I think he has made a good point. We wanted Footballers' Wives as basically an antidote to all the overblown celebrity we now see in society."

She admitted that the programme revealed a world that was often "shallow and money-obsessed".