EastEnders

Today's first episode (5/5/92) was VERY heavily cut, only ran to around 22 minutes without the adverts. We've been trying to figure out what was cut and why, but we'd need a copy of the original broadcast.

I haven't seen the original, but the credits mention the Belchamp Morris Men. Whack that into Google Images and the issue immediately becomes apparent.

It seems excessive to cut 7 minutes, but I'm guessing the men in question were doing a lot of mingling with other characters and appearing in the background in scenes in the Vic, etc.

Drama, however, failed to edit them out of one scene (at 15:38 – series 9 ep. 9 on UKTV Play).

Blackface. No wonder they got cut. It's surprising that it didn't just become a banned episode, since they've had to edit it so drastically.

Yet we're losing an entire episode in a couple of weeks, apparently just because of a few seconds of horse racing footage on a TV they couldn't clear the rights to...

Sort of suprised they allowed the blackface as late as 1992 anyway, really. It was nearly 15 years after the the Black & White Minstrels ended because it had become outdated and offensive.

Their official website proudly states they were asked to drop the blackface for the EastEnders appearance, but they refused as it was "against tradition".

But then the show still booked them?

I never even knew until now that blackface was part of morris dancing tradition. Not that I can claim to know much about morris dancing, but none of it that I've ever seen has been in blackface.

Reading their website I’m not sure they are trying to impersonate or make fun of black people they say it is to make their appearances anonymous. I guess in that respect it’s no different to clowns having faces painted white, it’s just unfortunate that the colour they choose happens to be black. You’d think they’d change the world practice to use a different colour really.

I doubt any offence is intended. As is so often the case, the broadcaster is probably concerned about how the inclusion of such scenes might reflect on them, regardless of how the content is intended.

From the same guy who reacted to Noel's House Party, here he reacts to the Christmas Day episode from 1994.

I've followed taffe316 for a while now. Great to see a North American perspective on British tv.

Having watched a few of these too, it’s hardly very insightful. It’s just watching someone not really getting the humour. That doesn’t mean they aren’t enjoyable though.