Over 160 complaints about a gay kiss between two policemen in uniform screened before the 9pm watershed have been rejected by the Independent Television Commission (ITC).

The scene during ITV1's police drama The Bill showed Sergeant Craig Gilmore and PC Luke Ashton in a passionate embrace.

Viewers complained the scene would have been acceptable after the watershed, but not in a programme starting at 2000 when many children could still be watching.

But the TV regulator said it had not broken any programme rules.

It said the programme code did not distinguish between the sexual orientation of characters, but required that any sexual behaviour be appropriately limited and inexplicit before 2100.

It said the kiss was not totally unexpected and it considered the scene acceptable.

The ITC also rejected nine complaints that scenes about a missing schoolgirl in the Channel 4 soap Brookside bore similarities to the hunt for Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.

It said there were sufficient differences for it not to intervene.

The watchdog did uphold five complaints against ITV1's Tonight with Trevor MacDonald, saying an item about dyslexia treatment breached its guidelines on fairness.