Did Shortland Street just allow the F-bomb on TV?

We seem to have finally moved on from the whole 'yanny' 'laurel' saga but now we have another problem on our hands. 

Did an actor on Shortland Street really let the f-word slip?

According to one listener, they definitely did, making a complaint to the Broadcasting Standards Authority claiming the officer used the word "f***ing" that was "unacceptable" considering Shortland Street's 7pm time slot and PGR rating.

Although, TVNZ has maintained that the actor said "freaking" - as "confirmed by the closed captions" - and "freaking" is not a swear word by the BSA's definitions.

The BSA, however, aren't sure what the word being said is.

They viewed and listened to the scene "a number of times" and never managed to determine what they were hearing.

"In our view, the word used was not 'freaking'. However, we were not able to determine whether the word used was 'f***ing' or some less offensive but similar sounding word," the BSA said.

What did you hear?