The photographer of a controversial fashion shoot at the Addolorata Cemetery was granted permission because he claimed he wanted to highlight the beautiful gothic architecture, the Department for Environmental Health said.

The department defended the decision to grant a permit for the shoot and insisted it was done in good faith while abiding to several conditions.

The photo shoot, televised on the weekly TVM programme Venere, has been criticised for being in 'bad taste' as the two female models sometimes had sensual facial expressions and positions that were deemed inappropriate for the location.

This spurred the Broadcasting Authority to issue a charge against Public Broadcasting Services Ltd, that manages TVM.

The BA complained that the shoot breached article 13(2)(a) of the Broadcasting Act which says that programmes cannot be accepted if they "offend religious sentiment, good taste or decency or is likely to encourage or incite to crime or to lead to disorder or to be offensive to public feeling".

PBS chairman Clare Thake Vassallo said she could not understand what all the fuss was about because the programme manager had asked for permission for the shoot, received it, and abided by all the parameters of the permit.

However, the Department for Environmental Health said the photographer filed an application with the Burials Administration Unit and the permit was granted under a number of conditions including "that any photographs taken in any film shot do not in any way contain anything that may be deemed objectionable".