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BBC pulls Little Britain, Come Fly with Me off Netflix.

Streaming platforms dump Matt Lucas & David Walliams sketch comedies.

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The BBC has yanked Little Britain and Come Fly with Me from BBC iPlayer, Netflix and BritBox platforms, indicating “times have changed” since they first aired.

The Matt Lucas and David Walliams comedy includes sketches around ethnic characters, including the use of blackface on several.

Little Britain ran from 2003 until 2008 while Come Fly With Me was broadcast in 2010 and 2011.

“There’s a lot of historical programming available on BBC iPlayer, which we regularly review,” a BBC spokesperson said.

“Times have changed since Little Britain first aired so it is not currently available on BBC iPlayer.”

In 2017, Lucas said: “If I could go back and do Little Britain again, I wouldn’t make those jokes about transvestites. I wouldn’t play black characters.

“Basically, I wouldn’t make that show now. It would upset people. We made a more cruel kind of comedy than I’d do now.”

But the move has also angered some fans of the show, with many on social media criticising it as being too politically correct.

Updated: Both shows have since been removed from Stan in Australia, which has been contacted for comment.

Source: BBC

Should old comedy titles be removed if they offend?

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33 Responses

  1. The most outrageous jokes always expire the quickest. They’re closest to the bone, too ‘you can’t say that’. So yes, they have a shelf life.

  2. I’m sure everyone remembers times in the past they’ve inadvertently been a d*** and hurt others. Let’s be honest, we’ve all been there. And when you found out, you were probably a bit hurt yourself. But did you:

    A: stop being a d*** and maybe apologise for it, or
    B: keep right on being a d***, because stopping would set a “dangerous precedent”?

    Because one of those choices not only makes you a bigger d***, it makes you an inconsiderate one…

  3. Honestly, I hated Little Britain back in the day and are happy to see it gone. The greatest offence to me was how unfunny it was.

    But in principle this sets a dangerous precedent…

  4. I think the only things that should now be allowed on tv are shows that are supportive of our government and its glorious leader. Failure to comply should lead to mandatory state sanctions…..

  6. I rather agree with this, and think it’s worthy to note Lucas’ own comments about his feelings about the show. The first two seasons of Little Britain were catchphrase manna but after that, for my tastes it really became about cruel humour and gross outs for the hell of it so I tapped out. If people want to check them out then there’s still the DVDs to buy or episodes to purchase digitally on iTunes.

  7. Historical context is important, and most comedy is not hateful, usually just reflective of attitudes of the times. Little Britain is more absurd in nature, it’s not like, say, Love Thy Neighbour or Mind Your Language.

  9. It’s interesting as when say Love Thy Neighbour started in 1972 I was 11 and when it finished in 1976 I was 15 and I have always seen that show as one that was mocking how ridiculous racism was/is. Now I don’t know if that is how my Parents explained it to me or not, or whether it was a direct influence from first watching what would now be called SJW shows like Bewitched, similarly I saw All In The Family in the same light (it spawned The Jeffersons after all) and a few others including Kingswood Country (Ted’s views were to me seen as old fashioned).

    So yeah I voted Sometimes.

  10. It’s the bare minimum that needs to be done,It’s unequivocally racist. By allowing people to watch and laugh and enjoy these shows and the BBC to profitier of other peoples hurt is wrong.Change is difficult but it means giving up things for the benifit of others. Not enough time has past for a warning because for a lot of people their sensibilities wont be offended,they will be watching to cheer them on. I remember when the Little black Sambo was removed from schools and the cries of how ridiculous it was very strong but we all coped and were better for it.

  11. Guess 10 won’t re rerunning “The Black & White Minstrel Show” anytime soon?
    0/10 Saturdays 1967-8-9
    5pm Sports Roundup, News
    5.30 Petticoat Junction
    6.30 Hazel
    7pm The Phil Silvers Show
    7.30 The Black And White Minstrels

    1. These shows didn’t target one group of people in particular, there were characters which satirised all different people. Everyone had the chance to be offended…obviously this wouldn’t be made in 2020, but that doesn’t mean we need to pretend old sjkws like this never existed

      1. There’s an episode of Little Britain where Marjory full on yells “Fat cow! Fat cow! Fat cow!” in the face of one of the attendees. That was awful to watch then and I couldn’t bring myself to see it again now. Even Matt Lucas has disowned that sketch saying at the time he was pushing himself to berate an actress who he regarded a friend of his. Lucas and Walliams have plenty of much better material that’s worth revisiting.

  13. In the book 1984 history is constantly being rewritten ,this seems to be happening to tv shows cartoons and every thing else where things are re written or are digitally altered.It seems Elmer fudd and Sam from warner cartoons now don’ t have guns any more in their new cartoon series.

  15. I think it should remain available, but perhaps with a warning of “this was made x years ago, some content may offend moden-day sensibilities”

      1. That is a good idea. Disney+ do that with some of their content from the early years as well (with the exception of Song of the South..which is nowhere to be seen)

        2. I love this idea rather than removing it completely, an exemplar Cultural warning is from Warner Brothers who say this imgur.com/gallery/sOklpJa or even a video warning such as this one from Whoopi youtube.com/watch?v=k_oEOdIBOpU. Which I’m sure they could easily get Matt Lucas or David Walliams to record.

          Take notes Stan, rather than just following Netflix’s example here.

    2. Yeah that’s what they did with the early (Sesame Street episodes when they went out on DVD and iTunes in 2013.

      As in:

      “These early Sesame Street episodes are intended for grown-ups, and may not suit the needs of today’s preschool child.”

      1. Tell me you’re joking David!
        This can’t possibly be true.
        If it is I guess the Wizard of Oz is next.
        Taken to its logical conclusion there won’t be much left by the time all the professional victims have had their 2 cents.

  17. If you start removing and censoring old material that might be offensive, you might as well start pretending that stuff never actually happened. You can’t learn from stuff you lock away for not fitting today’s standards/culture/etc.

    1. I tend to agree with you about shows from the 60’s, 70’s etc. But, blackface had become totally unacceptable (at least in the US) by the time Little Britain premiered in the early ’00s. Frankly I’m surprised it found its way onto the BBC in the first place in the manner it did.

      1. Yeah I was the same with with Chris Lilley and Jonah from Tongah, how that got green-lit by the ABC in 2014 still surprises me, I mean it was only 5 years on from Hey Hey and Harry Connick Jr over the Jackson Jive skit.

      2. Blackface is quite specific to the US in regards to its offensiveness. It was used specifically to mock and dehumanise black Americans after the civil war by a segment of society that resented the end of slavery.
        Whereas blackface in the UK, historically was not used in as deliberately a cruel way. Of course there was plenty of racism in England but there was no slavery as such (of course the inhabitants of colonised countries being exploited could be argued as a type of slavery). There’s a lot of interesting academic articles about blackface minstrelsy in the UK if one has the time and inclination to read some.
        Anyway point is, that blackface in the UK and indeed Australia was used a lot more literally as simply dressing up as a black person, generally for comedic effect. It never had the nasty undertones like the US. So its harder to hold up to the same standard. You do need…

        1. Well no Slavery as such after 1833 when it was abolished (mostly):

          “The Slavery Abolition Act 1833 abolished slavery throughout the British Empire. This Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom expanded the jurisdiction of the Slave Trade Act 1807 and made the purchase or ownership of slaves illegal within the British Empire, with the exception of ‘the Territories in the Possession of the East India Company,’ Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), and Saint Helena. “

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