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Keep Britain Tidy today urged television producers and script writers to think more carefully about their representation of litter and pollution issues after a well-known prime time show featured a sky lantern release as its finale.

The Wigan-based environmental charity has voiced concern over an episode of ITVs' Doc Martin, set on the Cornish coast, which has already attracted criticism from people on social media who are concerned about the environment.

Every year up to 200,000 sky lanterns are released in the UK, often causing catastrophic damage to wildlife and habitat, and ending up as litter.

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Martin Clunes and Caroline Catz in Doc Martin

In 2022, the charity launched the #BanTheFlamingThing campaign in response to the careless use of disposable barbecues and sky lanterns.

Lanterns ultimately end up as litter on both land and in the sea, posing a threat to livestock, wildlife and marine life, as well as being a fire risk.

It's almost a decade since video evidence was captured of a flaming sky lantern landing on property in the West Midlands, resulting in a major fire that required more than 200 firefighters and 39 fire appliances to tackle.

Keep Britain Tidy's chief executive Allison Ogden-Newton OBE, said: "Damage to farms and property by sky lanterns is well documented as is harm to animals. These floating flames are highly dangerous.

Sky lanterns were once very popular but they have proved a nuisance in terms of littering as well as setting fires

"We need to stop this very dangerous form of littering and want to see the sale of sky lanterns banned.

“While we continue to call on government to take action, in the meantime, we want to see script writers and TV producers step up and think carefully about their representation of issues affecting the environment.

“Whether it’s portraying the release of sky lanterns or showing characters dropping cigarette butts on the ground, TV is normalising behaviours that are do untold damage to the environment and pose a significant risk.

"Keep Britain Tidy has been campaigning against littering for generations. Those who think litter is someone else’s problem are wrong; it isn’t – it’s everyone’s problem."

Keep Britain Tidy has worked with the NFU to launch a petition to ask the government to ban sky lanterns once and for all. Currently it has more than 96,000 signatures.

Wigan-based Keep Britain Tidy makes plea to entertainment industry as it campaigns to ban sky lanterns and disposable BBQs