A TV showed filmed in Essex has been pulled from TV schedules while an investigation into contestant's tattoos takes place.

The Sky History programme The Chop sees 10 contestants compete over nine weeks of carpentry challenges in Epping Forest.

But Twitter users accused participant Darren of having a Nazi symbol on his face after the channel shared a promotional clip from the show online.

The contestant, who says his nickname is The Woodman, has the number 88 inked on his cheek, which is reportedly white supremacist numerical code for Heil Hitler.

The show hosted by Lee Mack and Rick Edwards was due to be aired every Thursday.

Sky History had initially said the tattoos did not have any “political or ideological meaning”.

In a statement on Tuesday the channel said: “Darren’s tattoos denote significant events in his life and have no political or ideological meaning whatsoever.

“Amongst the various numerical tattoos on his body, 1988 is the year of his father’s death.

“The production team carried out extensive background checks on all the woodworkers taking part in the show, that confirmed Darren has no affiliations or links to racist groups, views or comments.”

But later the same day it confirmed a video on social media had been removed and Sky History would not be broadcasting an episodes until an investigation was carried out.

In a Tweet Sky History said: “While we investigate the nature & meaning of Darren’s tattoos we have removed the video featuring him from our social media, & will not be broadcasting any eps of The Chop until we have concluded that investigation. Sky HISTORY stands against racism & hate speech of all kinds.”