Royal Opera House defends Friday screening of Seven Deadly Sins

The Royal Opera House has defended livestreaming The Seven Deadly Sins on Friday, the day Prince Philip died, because performers gave a minute's silence.

While many TV stations cancelled shows in order to pay respects to the late Duke of Edinburgh, executives at the Opera House decided that their performance must go on.

A reimagined version of the original, with a modern take on gender politics, aired on Friday, for £10 a ticket. Viewers are still able to watch a recording of the performance online if they pay.

In the production, the main character Anna visits seven cities, and discovers a new sin in each one. The satirical performance explores the concept of sin.

While the Royal Opera House posted its condolences to the deceased Royal online, some thought the venue should have paid respects by delaying the performance.

One opera fan wrote on Twitter: "It is really disrespectful and actually quite disgraceful, as the 'Royal' Opera House, to go ahead with the broadcast of Seven Deadly Sins tonight. Should’ve been delayed by a week."

However, a spokesperson said that airing it was the right thing to do, explaining: "We were deeply saddened to hear of the death of the Duke of Edinburgh and our thoughts remain with the Royal Family at this sad time. Friday's broadcast of Seven Deadly Sins went ahead as scheduled, with one minute’s silence followed by the National Anthem."

The BBC stopped all non-news programming on its main channels on Friday, and is just now returning to regular programming, with Line of Duty airing tonight. ITV also suspended programming for a special schedule, and some concerts fell foul of the change, with a concert by the London Symphony Orchestra on Radio Three postponed.

Prince Philip was known not to enjoy the opera. The late Ewen Balfour, courtier and Covent Garden executive told classical music magazine Slipped Disc that insiders at the venue would leave a slim crime paperback beneath the evening's programme book. This meant he could slip it inside the programme and happily read instead of being subjected to the show.