The BBC has defended its decision to include a character who makes outdated prejudices in Little Britain following complaints from viewers.
The and David Walliams comedy after its creators made edits to ‘better reflect the changes in the cultural landscape’ since the show first aired 20 years ago.
However, viewers noted that Linda Flint, a university counsellor who describes students in an offensive manner despite them sitting right in front of her, still appears.
In one scene, the character says of an east Asian man: ‘Um, how can I describe him? He’s got straight black hair, yellowish skin, slight smell of soy sauce.’
Many, obviously, took issue with the inclusion of the scene, with one writing: ‘Typical. Asian people have to deal with racism every day in the form of jokes and find it harder to call out because of scenes normalising the humour, much like this.
‘Changes in the cultural landscape to protect and respect us all, will just have to wait, I guess.’
Echoing a similar sentiment, another added: ‘Saying times have changed isn’t an excuse like I genuinely don’t know how this show was allowed to be aired.’
The BBC, however, has doubled down on choosing to keep the scene.
‘All jokes in our output are judged on context and intent,’ the BBC said in a statement.
‘The sketches in which the character Linda Flint makes reference to the appearance or race of a series of people are intended to expose and ridicule some of the outdated prejudices and racism that still exist in parts of British society, which is more apparent when viewing the sketches within the context of a full episode, and across the series as a whole.
‘The programme is part of the BBC’s comedy archive and information is provided for iPlayer viewers about the inclusion of discriminatory language.’
Little Britain was removed from various services including Netflix and BritBox in the wake of Black Lives Matter protests in 2020.
It had faced criticism because of the use of blackface make-up in some sketches.
A BBC spokesperson said of its return to iPlayer: ‘Little Britain has been made available to fans on BBC iPlayer following edits made to the series by Matt and David that better reflect the changes in the cultural landscape over the last 20 years since the show was first made.’
Lucas and Walliams have both previously apologised for their use of blackface on the show, which began as a radio programme in 2000 before running as a TV series on the BBC between 2003 and 2007, launching their respective careers.
The said in a joint statement on Twitter in June 2020: ‘Once again we want to make it clear that it was wrong; we are very sorry.’
Little Britain is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
