"SYMPATHETIC but inaccurate" was the verdict of Mary Whitehouse's son on a BBC drama portraying her campaign for family values on the television.

Richard Whitehouse, 63, who now lives in Manningtree, said he was disappointed neither he nor his two brothers were asked for their input into Filth: The Mary Whitehouse Story, broadcast on BBC2 on Wednesday night.

He had declined to comment about the much-publicised programme until he had watched it on TV, but today broke his silence.

The programme opens in 1964 with Mrs Whitehouse, who later lived in Ardleigh and a Colchester nursing home, riding her bike through the village of Claverley, near Wolverhampton, and waving at her neighbours.

A later scene showed Richard and his brothers at a party, clearly uncomfortable, and not drinking, while girls try to get a kiss-and-tell story from them, while near the end Mrs Whitehouse screamed at a couple of youngsters kissing in public.

"There were a few factual errors in that my mother never rode a bicycle and she never went through the village waving at the neighbours," he explained.

"She was actually a senior mistress in that she was in charge of sex education for the children, so she was not a nosey-parker.

"Shouting at a bunch of kids in the car - she never did that. She actually got on very well with youngsters.

"It was really her involved with schoolchildren that started the campaign.

"We never did go out together. We tended to do our own things. That particular idea, that we never drank, was ridiculous.

"It's a shame really. We would have been able to help them with a lot of the details that had gone wrong but obviously they didn't want our help."

But in general Mr Whitehouse thought the programme, covering the start of the campaign up until the sacking of Sir Hugh Carleton Greene, the director general of the BBC and a staunch opponent of Mrs Whitehouse, put across her beliefs well.