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Not amused. Chaser’s Royal Wedding commentary cancelled

Updated: ABC2's Royal Wedding commentary from The Chaser has been pulled due to restrictions on use of footage in comedy and satire.

It seems the Queen is not amused. Or at least Clarence House isn’t.

ABC2’s Royal Wedding commentary from The Chaser team has been pulled just two days before the big day.

ABC TV has been forced to cancel their live satirical commentary, due to air on ABC2 from 7:00pm on Friday.

The special has had to be pulled pulled due to restrictions imposed over the Easter break.

ABC TV had initially been advised by the BBC and Associated Press Television News (APTN) there were no coverage restrictions on wedding commentary.

But new conditions of use issued over the Easter break state footage cannot be used “in any drama, comedy, satirical or similar entertainment program or content”.

According to the advisory “the ‘Wedding Ceremony’ shall mean the period from the arrival of the first member of the Royal Family for the wedding service until the last member of the Royal Family leaves the main entrance of Westminster Abbey following the conclusion of the wedding service.”

According to the BBC, all providers of live coverage of the wedding have agreed to the restrictions imposed by Clarence House.

Kim Dalton, Director of ABC TV said “the national broadcaster has acted in good faith in its negotiations around ABC2’s planned coverage with both the BBC and APTN.

“We’re surprised and disappointed at this very late stage to be informed that any satirical or comedic treatment of the marriage of Australia’s future Head of State has been banned.”

As late as this morning the BBC issued a new contract imposing additional restrictions on the use of its material.

“ABC TV had always planned to take the BBC’s full coverage with commentary on ABC1. However like other broadcasters we thought Australians would appreciate an alternative take on this major event,” said Dalton.

“The Nine Network has Dame Edna giving her commentary and the TEN Network has The 7PM Project taking a light-hearted approach to the Royal Wedding. Our obvious choice, for a light-hearted commentary is The Chaser team. Clearly, the BBC and Clarence House have decided The Chaser aren’t acceptable.”

Julian Morrow said, “Everyone loves a royal wedding.

“Except perhaps The Queen, who didn’t even bother going to the last one, but The Chaser couldn’t be more thrilled to be covering the big day.

“And who knows – if it goes well, hopefully they ask us back next year to cover the divorce.”

Chris Taylor said “We’ve been taken off air before but never by the Queen herself. It’s an honour”

ABC1 will still be taking the BBC coverage of the wedding, including its commentary, and ABC News and ABC News 24’s coverage will not be affected by the ban on ABC2 usage.

UPDATE: A TEN spokesperson tells TV Tonight there are no changes to its coverage featuring Fitzy, Wippa and Lucy McDonald. “We are proceeding as planned with our Royal Wedding programming. Our coverage will be respectful though light hearted.”

A Nine spokesperson tells TV Tonight there is nothing in the restrictions that will change plans for Dame Edna Everage.

97 Responses

  1. The whole wedding was a joy to watch. Pomp and ceremony,old and new, a meaningful service tradiional standards and courtesy put everyone present at ease. By the way most people are admired and looked up to for haveing a long and successful marriage. Royal personages do not as a rule defend themselves, if others do it for them so be it , it is not etiquette. It is a lonely life not knowing if someone likes you or your money! Treat others as you would like to be treated and don’t be jealous.

  2. Tonight’s (29/04/11) ABC2 Amendments:
    7.00 Spicks & Specks
    7.30 The Royal Family: The New Sofa.
    8.30 The Chaser’s War on Everything.
    9.00 The Chaser’s War on Everything.
    9.25 The Chaser’s War on Everything.
    9.55 The Chaser’s War on Everything.

  3. Chaser team . not funny , they aspire to be some kind of Monty python / Secret Policemans Ball crossed with a small dose of fringe satire, no class, not original, no history, bunch of small minded cringing wanabees … you cant make a silk purse from a sows ear , people that watch and encourage these left wing loonies must be easily pleased , never mind there is always those real classy shows e.g. City Homicide and Sea Patrol to fill the the void once the Chasers have disappeared from our screens , the bar is certainly set high by the standards of ozzie tv , thank God for the BBC .

  4. Absolutely ridiculous. The wedding shouldn’t be being broadcast in the first place. But now, not only do they take over Friday’s broadcast with their stupid wedding, they wont even allow us to have some fun with it! I was looking forward to the Chaser boys disrespecting the wedding and the family. They honestly deserve it. (Just in case people can’t tell, I greatly dislike the royal family and anything to do with them)

  5. Yes, why not broadcast an audio commentary and let people watch the images on TV with the sound turned down? And all the parts outside the church service are still fair game, aren’t they? You’ve got to laugh at wedding videos, especially your own!

  6. @ DF thanks for your reply…Iam sure it was very important to u to get your point across to me…. bravo!
    oh i did look up Mary Whitehouse-esque…thats 15sec of my life I will never get back!
    …and thanks.. i am a funny guy… cheers!

  7. Why hasn’t anyone worked out that this is an issue about how badly ABC2 is being run.

    Any Network worth it’s remit would have foresaw this issue and pathed the way.

  8. I think the 10 spokesperson sums it up pretty good ‘Our coverage will be respectful though light hearted.”

    Would the Chaser boys be respectful and light hearted? I doubt it very much and if the Royals (or whoever pulls the strings) don’t want a satirical commentary done on their wedding they don’t have to have one.

    On a different note, does anyone know if Commonwealth countries get ‘dibs’ on the best spots over say the US?

  9. I’m not worried, just insulted by the arrogance of the Poms in question.
    I was tempted to watch the hoo-haw with the Chaser for a bit, but now can just dismiss the whole thing as irrelevant.
    Double Stargate Universe on SciFi instead, or anything else really.
    Looking at a few previous comments, I gather there’s been a bit of conflict between posters.
    Fancy getting your knickers in a twist over this nonsense.

  10. Good riddance. The Chaser team reached the Apex/Summit of their dubious careers at the Apec Summit. It has all been downhill since then and I am glad their purile crass humour has been banned. Better still they should be locked up in the Tower of London and face charges of attempted treason.

  11. @ohyeah: At no stage did I mention that The Chaser did not expect a backlash. You are all over their place with your comments and replies to other comments. Stop taking people out of context.

    Speaking of context: If you actually sat down and read what has been written, instead firing off with your Mary Whitehouse-esque (look it up) outrage (despite the fact you really really love the Chaser, honest, but you ” think they are past their use by date”), you would see that I quoted David with his “look elsewhere”. I wasn’t talking about you.

    However, you are providing a heck of a lot of comedy.

  12. I don’t see why they don’t do what they used to do for the Football finals with Roy and HG. Show the wedding as planned on ABC1, and have a Triple J broadcast of commentary – those who want to can just use the Triple J soundtrack and turn their TV down. That would surely satisfy the use of footage requirement, and allow the comedy aspect (albeit without any visual skits).

  13. This just goes to show that the Royal Family is out of touch with the public today. The generational gap is the biggest problem that they have got. They take themselves to seriously. The Royal family is irrelevant unless they actually ran the country but because they are not they are as useless as a dodo. When ever their is an event like this they all of a sudden start demanding that they get their own way, just so they can feel relevant. The only part of the royal family who is relevant is William and (soon to be part of the royal family) Kate and possibly the younger royals the old codgers dont want the young ones to overtake them in the rankings because they secretly despise them.

  14. @ DF…it was their choice to do a poor taste skit! and they were fully aware of how stupid it was! so dont try and tell me that the chasers had no idea it would receive a backlash!

    @ Andrew…. thanks for your advice….

    @ RoD..I totally aggree with you…

    @DF.. I wasnt trying to be funny..so why dont u look else where!

    here is a question…. who would u rather have doing the royal wedding..
    the chasers or the D-gen???

    I have nothing against the chasers… I watched their show and really enjoyed it…
    they are very funny guys. but they made a mistake… and like i said .. they knew what they were doing.

  15. Of course they have the right to say how they want the footage to be used, but one would think they would be used to ridicule by now.

    I doubt i would have even watched the chasers coverage, as i could not care less about the royal wedding.

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