The new drama has triggered a barrage of complaints after it showed gruesome images of a Muslim being beheaded of course by a Christian who has gone extreme.

 Bonekickers is about a group of archeological sleuths, who in the very first episode titled "Army of God," has the team called in to investigate the discovery of a group of 14th century medieval soldiers whose bodies were found with a special coin on them at a construction site. The Bonekicker team with their archaeological and forensic skills lead them to identify the remains as those of the Knights Templar and a 2,000-year-old piece of cypress wood, identified as possibly part of the True Cross of Christ and then later on in the show depicted an extremist Christian decapitating a man with a sword.

The bloody scene has prompted 100 complaints since it was broadcast on BBC1.

London Observer television critic Andrew Anthony panned the new drama:

"It wasn't the absurdity of the storyline that buried 'Bonekickers' so much as the BBC's paint-by-numbers version of political correctness. ... Thus Michael Maloney, as a vain academic, and Paul Rhys as a far-right Christian evangelist, were pantomime posh.

"A Martian watching TV drama of late would probably conclude that the country is crawling with homicidal Islamophobes, desperate to kill those few Muslims who have not already been interned by the government or shot by the police."

Andrew Billen, writing for the London Times, wrote:

"'Bonekickers' pretends to find history intriguing but has no real faith that we viewers will. So it manhandles the contemporary into its orbit. Last night it was the turn of the evangelical Christians to be dragged in. The script, I thought, slipped into serious bad taste when one of their loony-tune number lopped off the head of a law-abiding Muslim. I am not a Christian, but if I were, the demonization of evangelicals ... would make me cross. For the rest of us, 'Bonekickers' is, regrettably watchable, bunk."

 One viewer wrote on the corporation's website: 'If it had been another religion portrayed in that manner, the PC police would have been up in arms about the nastiness and their rights not to have their religion ridiculed - as it was Christians, it was apparently OK.'

 This of course is just another one of the latest ways that Christianity is beinging attacked yet will have no backlash. The BBC admitted 'regret' that viewers had found the scene 'inappropriate', but defended its decision to show it. The show was watched by some 6.8million and also sparked new claims of anti-Christian bias in BBC programs.

The BBC, in a response to critics of the program, defended the portrayal of Christian extremists in the UK who would behead a law-abiding Muslim:

"We regret that some viewers felt the beheading scene was inappropriate. It appeared half way through episode one of Bonekickers, by which time the character's 'extreme fundamental belief' had been revealed, providing the audience with a good build up to the scene in question.

"This storyline looked at religious fundamentalism within a fictional Christian group, and one character in particular who took his beliefs to an extreme. His ignorance and misguided behavior led to the beheading of a peaceful Asian Muslim character in the drama. His actions are clearly condemned by leading Muslim and Christian clerics. The drama also has the balance of a Christian character that has a deep faith which she uses humbly and only for good.

"The killing and the method used reflected the flawed beliefs that the character had. It does not attempt to condone or glamorize such a violent act in any way. The drama seeks to highlight the consequences of a misguided fundamentalist taking his beliefs to violent extremes.

"The inclusion of the scene had been carefully considered and was very much central to the story line and reflected the character's extreme fundamental beliefs and state of mind.

"The Army of God" episode debuted on Tuesday, one day after the third anniversary of the July 7, 2005, bombings on the London subway that claimed 25 lives and injured dozens more.

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