Should we ban comedy shows that are now deemed politically incorrect?
WHATEVER has happened to the great British sense of humour? Fawlty Towers, Little Britain and The League Of Gentlemen have become victims of the thought police (Mail). Will Only Fools And Horses be next? Surely it is wrong to laugh at people having accidents in You’ve Been Framed. Some people will go out of their way to take offence at the slightest thing. The greatest test of a sense of humour is if you can laugh at yourself.
Mrs PAULINE PASMORE,
Shepperton, Surrey. THE BBC has pulled Little Britain from iPlayer and BritBox because some people found certain sketches to be racist. What about other shows that the BBC produced for years, such as The Black And White Minstrel Show, Jim Davidson’s Generation Game and Top Gear, which are buried in its archive?
J. NOTLEY, London W3.
THE notion that simply
removing certain TV programmes from mainstream platforms is going to make everything all right is laughable. It will just drive people to other platforms to watch banned shows so they can see what the fuss is all about.
PHILIP NORGAN, Leighton Buzzard, Beds. JOINING the sanctimonious bandwagon of comedians and entertainers apologising for harmless TV sketches, Ant and Dec say they ‘realise it was wrong’ to impersonate people of colour in Saturday Night Takeaway. It may be subjectively deemed wrong, but surely it is ultimately a matter of opinion. Did anyone complain at the time or feel genuinely uneasy, or are complainants just following the latest trend?
F. HARVEY, Bristol.
IT’S remarkable that comedians and TV presenters are coming forward with apologies for impersonating people of colour in sketches. They claim they would not do the same stupid, cheap and offensive sketches again, but what is wrong now was wrong then. There is no excuse.
DAVID GORDON, Romiley, Cheshire. CLEARLY forced into saving their futures in entertainment, Matt Lucas and David Walliams have apologised for playing black characters in their comedy shows Little Britain and Come Fly With Me. If anyone needs to apologise, surely it is the BBC, which thought that it was OK at the time to broadcast such caricatures.
MARK MADDEN, Ditchling, E. Sussex.
CAN we expect an apology from Lenny Henry for his portrayal of David Bellamy?
PETE DICKERSON, Ryde, Isle of Wight. ‘MORNING, Fawlty. Is it true there are protesters staying in the hotel’? ‘Afraid so, Major. Just don’t mention the statue. I did once, but I think I got away with it . . .’
MARK COLMAN, Cockermouth, Cumbria.