PC culture ‘has killed classic sitcoms’

CLASSIC comedies such as Till Death Us Do Part and Are You Being Served? could never be made today because of political correctness, a sitcom writer said yesterday.

Roy Clarke, who wrote Last Of The Summer Wine, Keeping Up Appearances and Open All Hours, said that there was too much fear of giving offence as the ‘thought police’ took away our ability to laugh at ourselves.

He claimed that today’s audiences would not be able to cope with characters such as Till Death Us Do Part’s politically incorrect patriarch Alf Garnett, played by Warren Mitchell. The 86-year-old said: ‘I don’t know how [the audience] would handle it if we put out an episode of Alf Garnett today as we have become so prissy about everything. I really don’t know how people would handle it.

‘Everybody would get upset. Whatever you say these days you upset somebody.

‘It is not like the old days. Now they feel entitled to be upset. I think we have lost all common sense.

‘Back then when these shows were made we were able to laugh at each other. I don’t like political correctness. I think it has been destructive for life.’

Clarke has written a one-off prequel to Keeping Up Appearances to be shown later this year as part of the BBC’s ‘landmark sitcom’ season. There will also be new versions of Till Death Us Do Part, Porridge, Are You Being Served? and Steptoe and Son.

Speaking about the series this week, the BBC’s comedy controller Shane Allen admitted: ‘Today there is that PC backlash if you make jokes about sex or race. You are not able to comment on those.’