Madeley felt the term was now acceptable to the gay community

He used the term while telling an anecdote on the 9 June edition of afternoon show Richard and Judy, which he co-hosts with wife Judy Finnigan.

Two viewers complained that the term was homophobic.

Media regulator Ofcom decided to take no further action after Madeley apologised on the following day's show.

'Widely used'

In his response to Ofcom, Madeley said he understood the word "dyke" had been used in a disparaging manner in the past, but he believed the term was "now widely used in popular culture and accepted by the gay community".

"On this basis, he was using the word simply to describe a woman's sexuality in a 'hip' way," the regulator reported.

"Channel 4 emphasised that there was no intention to condone or justify the general use of the word 'dyke' as an abusive term."

An edition of MTV2 stunt show Dirty Sanchez sparked a complaint

In a separate ruling, the regulator upheld a complaint against MTV2's Dirty Sanchez, which showed a man letting off a fire extinguisher in his friend's face.

A viewer felt the scene was not suitable for its 4.30pm slot and the music video channel subsequently re-edited the programme.

But Ofcom took no further action against Sky One for broadcasting a violent post-watershed trailer for its Red Dragon premiere at 8.15pm on 10 May.