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Little Britain Has Been Removed From BBC iPlayer And Netflix

Little Britain Has Been Removed From BBC iPlayer And Netflix

It comes after people raised concerns over the depiction of ethnic minorities and people with disabilities in the show

Dominic Smithers

Dominic Smithers

Little Britain has been removed from BBC iPlayer, Netflix and BritBox.

The noughties sketch show has come in for some criticism in recent times over the way it depicted ethnic minorities and people with disabilities, as well as for how it dealt with issues of gender and sexuality.

Writers and creators David Walliams and Matt Lucas both wore blackface in numerous scenes to portray characters who were people of colour.

Responding to questions over the decision to pull the series from its streaming service, the BBC said that 'times had changed'.

A spokesman for the BBC told the Daily Mail: "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."

Netflix and BBC iPlayer have removed Little Britain from their services.
BBC

Along with this, the pair's other series, Come Fly With Me, has also gone, though this was a decision BritBox said was made some time ago.

BritBox explained: "Times have changed since Little Britain first aired, so it is not currently available on BritBox.

"Come Fly With Me has not been available on the service for six months."

A spokesperson for Netflix, which has also removed Come Fly With Me and Little Britain, said the company had 'no comment' but confirmed the shows were removed last Friday.

This comes a couple of months after Lucas discussed the possibility of bringing Little Britain back to television screens.

Speaking at the time, the 46-year-old admitted that some of the characters would have to be axed in order to avoid causing offence.

He said: "We need to sit down and work out who we are bringing back and who we aren't.

"I think the reason the show was successful is because it reflected how we all were back when we made it, if we hadn't have got that right it wouldn't have been so popular.

"I think to make it successful today you'd have to reflect how we all are now.

The BBC said times had changed.
BBC

"I think you definitely have a better chance of success if you are in sync with how people are at that time."

These echoed sentiments shared by Walliams back in 2019 when he said the show would need updating.

Speaking to Radio Times last year, the 48-year-old said: "It's a different time now. You'd make any comedy differently. We started working on Little Britain nearly 20 years ago, because it was on radio first.

"It's hard to say specifically how it would be different. There's all kinds of tolerances that change. People understand people's predicaments more now. Maybe it's, 'We see this differently, we've got more information,' and it would be a different type of joke."

Featured Image Credit: BBC

Topics: UK News, Entertainment, BBC, UK Entertainment, Netflix

Dominic graduated from the University of Leeds with a degree in French and History. Like you, Dom has often questioned how much use a second language has been. Well, after stints working at the Manchester Evening News, the Accrington Observer and the Macclesfield Express, along with never setting foot in France, he realised the answer is surprisingly little. But I guess, c'est la vie. Contact us at [email protected]

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