BBC 'REFUSES to play Fairytale of New York' despite rock hit's race to Christmas No1

Britain's national broadcaster is reportedly blacklisting a new "live" version of the song because it contains the words "cheap, lousy f****t".

The Sun reports BBC bosses are halting its rise to the top of the charts.

One music industry insider told the newspaper: "It feels unfair that this live version which shouldn't be edited has now been barred from the Beeb's playlist.

"It's an authentic performance of a much-loved track by a much-loved band and this move might be the measure that prevents it from getting to number one at Christmas, which is where it has always deserved to be."

This year's accusations of a ban follow a similar move in 2020.

That year, BBC Radio 1 vowed not to play the original record - because its audience "may be offended by some of the lyrics".

The station instead used a new edited version with two lines changed.

One was swapped for an alternative version in which Kirsty MacColl sings: "You're cheap and you're haggard" instead of the original words.

Then another line, sung by Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan in the second verse, had a word removed altogether.

The Irish rock hit, released in 1987, is one of several vintage festive tracks which surged to a nail-biting number two in the charts through the years.

It has surged into the top ten every Christmas.

But The Pogues' own original single was blocked from glory by the Pet Shop Boys' Always On My Mind.

Wham!'s Last Christmas, meanwhile, was prevented from reaching the festive perch by Band Aid's Do They Know It's Christmas in 1984.

Fairytale of New York was voted the most popular Christmas song in the UK in a survey by PRS for Music in 2019.

It was also the most played Christmas track on radio in 2018.

After MacGowan's death in November 2023, Pogues fans launched a bid to propel it to number one - with the allegedly controversial single clinbing to number three.

MacColl, whose husband Steve Lillywhite produced the rock classic, died in a tragic boating accident a week before Christmas in 2000.

This week, Fairytale of New York is currently number eight in the UK charts.

In 2023, Britain's Christmas number one finally went to Wham!'s Last Christmas.

And three years prior, a BBC spokesman said the broadcaster knows “the song is considered a Christmas classic and we will continue to play it this year, with our radio stations choosing the version of the song most relevant for their audience”.