Brit Awards prompt 825 complaints about music stars to Ofcom

The Brit Awards ceremony last weekend prompted 825 complaints to media watchdog Ofcom, with the majority involving Sabrina Carpenter's pre-watershed opening performance and Charli XCX's outfit.

US star Carpenter opened the awards show at The O2 in London on Saturday evening with a mash-up of her hits Espresso, Bed Chem with Rule Britannia!, while wearing a red sparkly military-style mini-dress with matching stockings and suspenders.

She was also seen having a close encounter with a dancer dressed as a soldier wearing a bearskin hat during the show, broadcast live on ITV.

Essex star Charlie XCX, who won five awards, wore a see-through black dress and addressed the controversy over her outfit during one of her speeches on the night: " "I heard that ITV were complaining about my nipples. I feel like we're in the era of 'free the nipple' though, right?"

An Ofcom spokesperson said: "We are assessing the complaints against our rules, but are yet to decide whether or not to investigate."

The watershed is 9pm. It marks the time when TV programmes which might be unsuitable for children can be broadcast from. The Brits began at 20.15 GMT and ended at 22.40 GMT.

Charli XCX won album of the year for her summer hit Brat. She also picked up best dance act, song of the year for her track Guess, featuring Billie Eilish (who was the first non-Brit to appear on a best song-winner), plus songwriter of the year.

Carpenter was honoured with the recently resurrected global success award.

The prize was originally created in 2013 to recognise British acts who had sold millions of records and concert tickets abroad. The previous recipients were One Direction (2013-14), Sam Smith (2015), Adele (2016-17) and Ed Sheeran (2018-19).

Six years ago it was abandoned altogether, but it may have been brought back to lure Carpenter to perform.