Little Britain removed from streaming platforms

Speaking as a nancy boy and a pansy myself, I understand that people may not approve of these terms but I don't support the removal/editing of content which includes them. Context is everything. Hearing a character in a sitcom referring to someone as a pansy is one thing. Hearing Huw Edwards referring to the people at a gay pride parade as such in a news bulletin would be a different story.

From my viewpoint what's happened is that the "cottonwool brigade" have hijacked the justifiable outrage over the racial tensions to launch their own crusade against anything that offends them

Who are the "cottonwool brigade" in this scenario, the broadcasters' compliance departments?

No. not the compliance departments. They're just doing their job. By the "cottonwool brigade" I'm referring to the small minority of hysterical people who are shrieking over seeing or hearing anything that doesn't fit into their narrow way of thinking. I said this earlier there are many movies and programmes which were "of their time" and yes those "times" were domiated by racism, sexism, homophobia and anti-disability all of which were wrong and still are today.

Yes, Leigh Francis, David Walliams and Matt Lucas have apologised for any offence caused and that stance should be applauded

But these programmes and films are a superb social record and must be accessible by all of us otherwise we will lose an understanding of how our world has developed. All of us have at one time or another have wished that we could travel back through time and put things right or avoid a terrible event. But we're not Dr Who or Sam Beckett. We can't just walk into a TARDIS or "Quantum Leap" What the "brigade" are doing are trying to censor history instead of using their energies to correct injustices that are wrong today.

Agree - though the thought of Huw Edwards reporting in such a way is funnier than anything a sitcom could possibly deliver, largely because it is so absurd. I think that is also largely the argument in defence of not removing some of these shows from the archives - "absurd" is probably the best way to describe the Bo Selecta characters for example.

I’m a bit conflicted on Bo Selecta because on the one hand, the characteristics are nothing like the actual person but on the other hand, you can see why some would get offended or be problematic.

I've never seen a full episode of Bo Selecta so can't really gauge it but from what clips I have seen it's one of those shows that can be taken one way or the other so to speak.

Little Britain is still available on Google Play Movies (& YT Music Library)

The gag about Nadia in Big Brother 5 would never get approved now.

I’d be interested to know what you make of David Walliam’s somewhat effete and camp portrayal of himself on Britain’s Got Talent?

Hi, bluecortina. I think I'd be repeating what PFMC84 already posted a few pages ago, namely that Walliams' caricature of an overly effeminate and camp man who is having some form of sordid secret affair with Simon is, at best, pretty iffy these days. The way it's portrayed comes across that the idea that Williams and Cowell could be gay lovers is funny and I don't think the notion that David and Alesha were knocking boots behind the scenes would have the same effect. Then you've got his swooning whenever a man under forty and in reasonable shape auditions. Could this be classed as hurtful 'appropriation' if you were really going through it with a fine tooth comb? Who knows?

I would say, though, that while I don't personally find this charade funny, I wouldn't call for Walliams to be removed from the panel for it, in the same way that while I don't find Bo Selecta or Little Britain funny in the slightest, I don't support their removal from online platforms as if they never existed.

I think your broadmindeness is commendable.