Joke policy no laughing matter at BBC

An editor of BBC comedy has revealed the lengths to which writers must go to get a joke on air.

As executives fear causing a national scandal with an off-key quip, Chris Sussman, an executive editor for comedy, said some have to go through “quite a lot of layers” to see the light of day. Some had to be checked personally by the director of TV and even Tony Hall, the director-general.

The levels of approval are in stark contrast to years gone by at the BBC, when comedians were given relatively free creative rein to measure the success of their own sketches.

“At the BBC, it’s been a difficult few years and I think that is reflected internally in terms of the processes and procedures we go through when we’re making programs,” Sussman said.

“Certainly since I’ve been there it’s been, I would say, a tougher environment than it has been for a while. To get a certain joke on air, to get a joke approved, we have to go through quite a lot of layers.

“We have editorial policy advisers. We have legal advisers. We have to run jokes past the channel. In certain circumstances they’d have to run jokes past the director of television. I’ve been involved in a program where it’s gone all the way up to the director-general.”

Sussman said he had joined the BBC following the Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand scandal, which saw a flood of complaints about their verbal abuse of the veteran actor Andrew Sachs.

When asked whether editors or comedians were summoned to tell the joke in question, he added: “It’s a very good point, because with comedy, it’s all about context.

He clarified that all jokes were now considered on the basis of whether they were funny enough to justify any potential offence caused.