In response to the comment on TV and ethics, I also wondered about Horizon's reconstruction of the Milgram experiment. It took me a while to believe my eyes, to be honest, as I was, like the commentator, under the impression that such research would not be the done thing nowadays. I presume the researchers involved in the programme thought otherwise.

For comparison, colleagues at Oxford recently did a study which involved presenting Catholic priests with statements supporting and challenging their belief. The ethics committee insisted that counselling should be made available, in case the priests were upset by reading statements which did not agree with their particular faith. You might think priests, in our society, would be used to disagreement, but that argument didn't wash.

However, I'm no expert on psychological research ethics, and could really use some guidance here. So I've emailed the British Psychological Society to ask their opinion of the ethical issues arising. No reply as yet. I include the email (sent to enquiry@bps.org.uk) below.