ITV/Masterpiece
It seems a kiss isn't always just a kiss—on Greek state television, that is.
The NET channel has come under fire from the country's main opposition party and many viewers for choosing to edit out a kiss involving the show's footman character, Thomas Barrow, and a visiting duke from Monday's premiere of Downton Abbey.
"This of course is an obvious case of censorship, an extreme act of homophobia and discrimination," the Syriza party said in a statement.
However, the network insists the edit was not an act of censorship, and that the cut was simply done to comply with broadcast rules for the time slot it was aired.
"The love affair between the two men... was not censored," said Costas Spyropoulos, managing director of the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation, in a statement. "The kiss was not shown because of the time the program was broadcast and the corresponding parental guidance warnings."
The network planned to air the full episode, unedited, at a later time on Tuesday.