BBC Defends The Royle Family 'Discriminatory Language' Warning

The BBC has defended a 'discriminatory language' warning it placed on an episode of The Royle Family.

The warning appears on the third episode of the second series on the iPlayer, and reads: "Contains discriminatory language which some viewers may find offensive."

BBC

The warning is believed to relate to a remark by Jim (Ricky Tomlinson), who describes presenter Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen as a 'nancy boy'.

There is also a general warning about 'adult humour'.

However, many fans complained about the 'woke' warning on the sitcom, which ran for three series between 1998 and 2000, with specials broadcast between 2006 and 2012.

Venting on social media, one person said: "Ffs this country and some people are pathetic."

Another tweeted: "Woke Britain."

Twitter

Twitter

The BBC has defended the warning though, citing the fact that other streaming platforms adopt a similar approach.

A spokesperson told LADbible: "We want classic shows and series on BBC iPlayer.

"Attitudes and language change over time and our approach, just like other streaming services, is to tell viewers when a show includes something that maybe offensive, inappropriate or outdated and because some people aren't offended, it doesn't mean that others aren't."

Last summer, Little Britain was removed from BBC iPlayer, Netflix and BritBox.

A BBC spokesperson said: "There's a lot of historical programming available on BBC iPlayer, which we regularly review.

"Times have changed since Little Britain first aired so it is not currently available on BBC iPlayer."

Topics: TV and Film, UK Entertainment

Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

@jakesmassey