The ripples caused by gay soap Queer As Folk continue long after the end of the hit Channel 4 series' first run.

In Australia, the national ABC network wants to show the series to audiences before the 10:30pm watershed, but only if they are given permission by the show's distributors, Granada, to repackage it in milder form.

An ABC insider said that the drama was a "natural" for viewers Down Under, but that it would probably from because of its "problematic" sexual contact.

David Hannam, presenter of ABC's The Arts Show, said he was amazed that the series had been shown uncut on British TV.

"It left me wondering how it passed through the system given the constraints and compromises of the process of making a series," he said.

Reports are also coming from The Netherlands that Dutch TV bosses consider the show too pornographic and controversial for audiences in Holland. Whether it will eventually be shown there mains to be decided.

Back at home, the Broadcasting Standards Commission has published its most recent report, in which it reveals that Queer As Folk was the second most complained about programme on television.

138 compliments were received about different aspects of the drama series. Some viewers complained about the bad language and the portrayal of drag abuse, but most complained about the portrayal of homosexuality, including stereotypical behaviour, and explicit sex scenes - in particular those involving the 15-year-old Nathan. Many of the complaining viewers believed these scenes depleting him having sex with Stuart "encouraged and endorsed paedophillia".

The Commission upheld a small proportion of the complaints about Queer As Folk, including accepting that the phase "fucking bastard cunts" "had exceeded acceptable boundaries".

The complaints about the encouragement of paedophillia were not upheld.

Only the Lakes, a drama series shown on BBC1 recorded more complaints with,154 viewers concerned about the amounts of sex, violence and bad language in the programme.