Sky forced to apologise after showing expletive-ridden Game of Thrones ep at 7am

Sky was forced to apologise after accidentally showing a Game of Thrones episode at 7am.

The hit series, which secured a healthy 89 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes, is renowned for its explicit content, including violence, swearing and scenes of a sexual nature.

On 19 December, Sky Atlantic showed the episode during a breakfast slot – hours before the UK watershed.

Media watchdog Ofcom explains: "The watershed begins at 9pm and material unsuitable for children should not, in general, be shown before 9pm or after 5.30am."

Broadcasters can, however, work around the timeframe if the content is password protected.

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Ofcom highlighted that an "unseen technical fault" had led to the episode being aired, which contained "multiple uses of offensive language including ‘c***’, ‘f***’ and ‘s***’".

Sky viewers were not required to enter a pin to watch the GOT episode at 7.35am.

In response, Sky apologised to viewers and said it "fully accepts strong content should not be broadcast before the watershed without the necessary mandatory PIN protection".

Sky also said it "sincerely apologises to those customers who viewed this content."

They added: "It is never our intention to offend or upset our viewers."

Earlier this month, Kit Harington, who played Jon Snow in GOT, hinted at his character's future in the forthcoming spin-off series.

During the first official Game of Thrones convention in Los Angeles on 11 December, Harington said his character is "not OK".

"I think where we leave him at the end of the show, there’s always this feeling of like… I think we wanted some kind of little smile that things are OK. He’s not OK," the star shared.

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