Children are being exposed to millions of tobacco images and messages every week on primetime television, according to University researchers.

Doctors and academics at the University-based UK Centre for Tobacco Control Studies are calling for stricter controls on the portrayal of, and references to, smoking in TV programmes.

The research, published online in the BMJ journal, Tobacco Control, says smoking and tobacco content frequently feature in films marketed to children, which is known to spark their interest in starting to smoke.

Dr Ailsa Lyons, Research Fellow at UKCTCS, said: “Our detailed research points to the urgent need for more stringent curbs on tobacco imagery. This would help curb the uptake of smoking among young people, who spend an average of 2.5 hours in front of the TV every day.”

“The appearance of real brands in fictional programmes, such as soap operas, is of questionable legality and we would call for the regulations and guidelines on tobacco content to be reviewed to protect children. We would recommend that television programming remove gratuitous depictions of tobacco, particularly smoking and tobacco branding, from programmes aimed at young people, or, in the UK, scheduled before the 9pm watershed.”

The researchers analysed the weekly content of all five free-to-air UK TV channels, broadcast between 6pm and 10pm on three separate occasions, four weeks apart, in April, May, and June 2010.

The researchers logged use of a tobacco product; implied use; the presence of tobacco paraphernalia, such as packs and ashtrays; and other references to tobacco, such as a news report. The authors also looked for tobacco branding and merchandising.

In all, the 420 hours of recordings comprised 613 programmes plus 1121 adverts and trailers. Among the 613 programmes, a third (210; 34%) had tobacco content. This occurred at least once in more than half of reality TV (67%), films (64%), and comedy (52%) and in half of soap operas (49%) and drama (48%).

Over two thirds of tobacco content (69%) featured in the 75% of hours of programmes broadcast before the 9pm watershed, when more adult-themed programmes begin.

This translates into 59 million instances of tobacco imagery/messaging, 16 million of tobacco use, and 3 million tobacco brand appearances every week.

Tobacco advertising, sponsorship and promotion in TV programmes is banned in the UK, but imagery included for artistic or editorial reasons is exempt.