'People are too sensitive!' Little Britain to return to screens but will cave to Ofcom standards

'People are too sensitive!' Little Britain to return to screens but will cave to Ofcom standards

Little Britain to return and comply to Ofcom

Gabrielle Wilde

By Gabrielle Wilde


Published: 20/12/2023

- 15:39

Comedy series Little Britain to return to TV for Christmas Little Britain to return and comply to Ofcom standards

Little Britain is set to make a comeback for Christmas but will be forced to comply with Ofcom standards casting fears over what made the show great in the first place.

The British sketch comedy series that ran on BBC between 2003 and 2006 and featured comedians David Walliams and Matt Lucas.


The much-loved series was removed from both BBC and Netflix for its "racist" scene where one of the characters used blackface.

However, it has now been revealed that the fan-favourite series will be making a comeback for Christmas, it will be shown on the Freeview channel That’s TV in the run-up to Christmas Day.

Matt Lucas and David Walliams Matt Lucas and David Walliams starred in the show from 2003 to 2006PA

The edited version will comply with Ofcom standards however meaning that a lot of the jokes that were seen as racist, homophobic or sexiest will probably not be included.

On GB News comedian Leo Kearse explained that he doesn't think that these scenes should be cut and people are "too sensitive."

He said: "It's going to be edited. They're going to make sure it's Ofcom compliant.

"It was called racist and all these things, but then pretty much everything has been called racist over the last five years.

David Walliams'The offensive clip involved David Walliams' character speaking to an Asian characterBBC

"It's a comedy show. A lot of comedy comes from stereotypes. Look at The Simpsons, look at pretty much all comedy.

"At least it was equal opportunities in it's racism. It also had classism, homophobia, transphobia. I think it would actually be more racist to exclude certain demographic groups from comedy and say you're different."

He added: "We've got to remember, this was 20 years ago this TV show came out.

I mean, that's that's a long time. So tastes and cultural attitudes have changed. People are much more sensitive. I'd say too sensitive now. They're not going to like having different stereotypes portrayed on screen.

Leo Kearse

Leo Kearse said that people are "too sensitive"

GB News

"When was the last decent TV comedy show since Little Britain? Since The Office?

"I think it just shows that if you stifle any expression or any hyperbole or exaggeration of traits then you're absolutely stymie in comedy."

The television channel, That’s TV, has plans to stream all three seasons of Little Britain every weeknight starting from Saturday, December 16, up until the new year.

Kris Vaiksalu, the head of programming for That's TV said in a statement: "That’s TV has announced that it will broadcast all three seasons of Little Britain as part of its festive Christmas and New Year line-up.

He added: "The holiday season is a time for joy and spreading warmth through laughter.

"This year, we are particularly thrilled to showcase the comedic brilliance of Matt Lucas and David Walliams, marking two decades since the inception of Little Britain."

You may like