DATE REVISED: 2022-10-10
ITEMS: 59
The BBC is censoring old radio comedy shows held in its archive, before repeating them on Radio 4 Extra. This is cultural vandelism: a disgraceful practice.
Often there are cuts which take the form of a complete sketch being cut; sometimes an entire episode is banned. It’s rarely a single line, and the banning of entire episodes is now a serious problem.
The BBC wish to unleash on us George Orwell’s thought-police, and to tell us what we are allowed to find funny!
I can only report those cuts I have noticed myself, which may be a very incomplete list. I tend to listen mainly to comedy shows, and mostly to comedies aired before 1990. Roy Hudd comedies, which feature fairly heavily in the list, have been cut as late as 2002 though.
Roy Hudd and Frankie Howerd seem to be particular victims of this evil practice. Even well-known gay icons such as Frankie Howerd and Kenneth Williams are now being targeted, who one might have expected to be immune.
I provide these details to explain which repeats to avoid. Many recordings circulate online, and my purpose here is — in part — to identify those which, because they have been censored, should be avoided.
It should be possible to find some complete recordings of banned or censored radio shows, using this link —
https://ulozto.net/folder/ZrqRdXvx96cH/name/BANNED-EPISODES?view=list#!ZGpmMQR2ATEuZ2V3ZmDjAzZ1BTZjZHuwAwxlJJgHF1R3HzD1AD==
This is cultural vandalism of the worst kind. A disgraceful practice.
It’s unacceptable to re-write history. If things happened in the past, we should not hide them, nor pretend they didn’t happen: those who are not willing to learn from history will repeat its mistakes.
Nor is it acceptable to re-write our literature or culture, by banning books — or authors — that some people no longer approve of. That was Hitler’s solution, in the book burnings of the 1930s: the current book-burners seek to repeat the mistakes of Hitler, by adopting his intolerance for the views of others.
# ITEM 01
Title of programme –
Much Binding in the Marsh – s04e07 – 1950-05-03
Sketch Comedy, starring Kenneth Horne, Richard Murdoch, Sam Costa.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b015f9b7
Date of Repeat –
2020-10-04
Description of cuts (with length, starting point) –
A cut at 19:51 lasting 7 seconds.
A joke is cut. Horne is explaining to Murdoch that he has to interview the candidates applying to be the new secretary. Murdoch’s line is cut:
• Horne: “Murdoch, these are applicants.”
• Murdoch: “Africans, sir? Ooh, good heavens. That means cannibals.
We’ll have to give them a cut from Costa, and two veg.”
Last uncut repeat: 2019-02-10
Reason for cut –
Cannibal joke cut due to BBC bias, i.e. political correctness. The cut dialogue does NOT contain any offensive terms for foreigners (e.g. wog, coon, nigger).
These shows don’t use the kind of language that could genuinely cause offence. Snowflakes pretend to be offended, but actually no episode uses any of those terms.
# ITEM 02
Title of programme –
Hancock’s Half Hour – s01e01 1954-11-02 – The First Night Party
Situation Comedy, starring Tony Hancock.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00dyp5l
Date of Repeat –
2021-04-14
Description of cuts (with length, starting point) –
A cut at 9:31 lasting 8 seconds.
This is a ludicrous cut. A line of Hancock’s dialogue is removed, when he calls to see Sid, in which he tells the doorman the names of the three callers: himself, Bill Kerr and Moira Lister.
• Doorman: “Can I help you?” «—————————– This line cut
• Moira: “We wish to see Mr James.”
• Doorman: “Certainly. What names shall I give?” «——— This line cut
• Hancock: “Bill Kerr, Tony Hancock, and Moira Lister.” «—— This line cut
• Doorman: “You’ll have to wait, Mr James is on the blower.”
Last uncut repeat : 2018-01-08
Reason for cut –
Unknown. But the cut dialogue does NOT contain any offensive terms.
The child who makes the Woke cuts at the BBC might have misunderstood the doorman’s reference to Sid being on the ‘blower’ (i.e. telephone), and perhaps wrongly thought that the line was a lewd sexual reference?
# ITEM 03
Title of programme –
The TV Lark – Episode 8 – 1963-03-15 – The Potarneyland Election
Situation Comedy, starring Leslie Phillips, Jon Pertwee, Ronnie Barker.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01cwsl7
Date of Repeat –
Should have aired on 2021-02-21 in the latest repeat of the 1963 series.
Description of cuts (with length, starting point) –
Episode banned. Last repeat: 2015-12-02
Reason for banning –
Possibly because the episode includes Ronnie Barker and Michael Bates playing two (fictitious) foreigners with foreign accents, even though they’re from a fictional country (Portarneyland).
BBC bias, i.e. political correctness, as the programme does NOT contain any offensive terms.
Merely having a foreign accent is enough to get a broadcast banned by the BBC’s thought police.
BBC hypocrisy, as they still sell this episode on CD.
# ITEM 04
Title of programme –
The Arthur Haynes Show – 1963-07-07
Sketch Comedy written by Johnny Speight, starring Arthur Haynes.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0008hpm
Date of Repeat –
Should have aired on 2021-06-27 in the latest repeat of the 1963 series.
Description of cuts (with length, starting point) –
Episode banned. Last repeat: 2019-09-15
Reason for banning –
BBC bias, i.e. political correctness, as the programme does NOT contain any offensive terms. And the sketches are not politically incorrect.
Sketches: Burglar sketch; Ugly daughter sketch; Coffee stall sketch (ex-prisoner steals meat pie).
# ITEM 05
Title of programme –
Play It Cool – Episode 4 – 1964-08-16
Sketch Comedy, starring Ian Carmichael, Joan Sims, Hugh Paddick.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05r7w7p
Date of Repeat –
2022-01-23
Last uncut repeat : 2019-04-02
Description of cuts (with length, starting point) –
A cut at 9:40 lasting 2’16”. These lines were cut, in a movie spoof
(spoofs a “Carry On” Film in the style of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Mikado):
• Ian Carmichael: “Now, the Japanese would undoubtedly make very high
drama of it all…”
• Music F/X : [Madam Butterfly style music link]
• Hugh Paddick : “Carry On Harri Carri.”
• Joan Sims : [Oriental accent] “Ah so, illustrious warrior. Now at
last we are alone.”
• Ian Carmichael: [accent] “Yes, my little lotus blossom. Come closer,
passion flower.”
• Joan Sims : [Squeals] [accent] “Please to take sword off!” (Audience laughter)
• Ian Carmichael: [accent] “Ah so, humble apologies, [indistinct].”
• Joan Sims : [accent] “Granted, honourable lover. It is long time
since we were together.”
• Ian Carmichael: [accent] “Ah so, many months have passed on Japanese
calendar: August, July, June, May, April, March,
February…” (Audience laughter)
• Joan Sims : [accent] “We are wasting precious moments! Come,
honourable lover, time for dishonourable hanky-panky!”
• Sound F/X : [Sound of kiss] (Audience laughter)
• Hugh Paddick : [accent] “Ah so, this is what is going on, behind
my front!” (Audience laughter)
• Joan Sims : [accent] “It is my honourable husband!”
• Hugh Paddick : [accent] “Yes, little lotus bud. And I find you with
lover. I expect him to do honourable thing!”
• Joan Sims : [accent] “He would have, if you hadn’t come bursting
in!” (Audience laughter)
• Hugh Paddick : [accent] “No, jasmin petal, I mean Harry Carry.”
• Ian Carmichael: [accent] “Have you been seeing him, too?”
(Audience laughter)
• Joan Sims : [accent] “No!” [To Hugh:] “Oh please, honourable
husband, he says that he loves me, truly.”
• Hugh Paddick : [accent] “Take no notice, he is giving you the madam,
butterfly.” (Audience laughter)
• Ian Carmichael: [accent] “What are you going to do?”
• Hugh Paddick : [accent] “You shall die, dishonourable lover!”
• Joan Sims : [accent] “No, please to put that gun away!”
• Hugh Paddick : [accent] “Are you ready? One! Two! Three!”
• Sound F/X : [Sound of gun misfiring]
• Hugh Paddick : [accent] “Nothing has happened!”
• Joan Sims : [accent] “Oh, honourable gun does not work.”
• Hugh Paddick : [accent] “No wonder, look what it say here: Made in
Birmingham!” (Audience laughter)
• Music F/X : [Madam Butterfly style music (and fade out)]
Reason for cut –
BBC bias, i.e. political correctness, as the dialogue does NOT contain any offensive terms.
Merely having a foreign accent is enough to get a sketch banned by the BBC’s thought police.
# ITEM 06
Title of programme –
Round The Horne – s01e12 – 1965-05-23
Sketch Comedy, starring Kenneth Horne and Kenneth Williams.
The 12th edition of the 1st series: “The Man with the Golden Thunderball”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00j05x3
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00hlxxw
Date of Repeat –
Should have aired on 2021-04-01 in the latest repeat of the 1965 series.
Description of cuts (with length, starting point) –
Episode banned. Last uncut repeat: 2011-01-24
Last repeat of any kind: 2018-03-21 – See “Previous Cut Repeats”, below.
Reason for banning –
BBC bias, i.e. political correctness, as the episode does NOT contain any offensive terms.
Not banned due to the reference to the late Jimmy Savile: the episode was repeated twice, with the reference cut, on 2013-03-04 and 2018-03-21.
The late Jimmy Savile is deemed a “non-person” by the BBC’s thought police (since October 2012), despite never being convicted of any offence.
Possibly because the Thunderball sketch, spoofing the James Bond movie of that name, is set in the Orient and spoofs (horror!) foreigners.
Previous Cut Repeats –
a. 2018-03-21 rpt
The last rpt was on 2018-03-21 (duration 28:05). That repeat contains one sketch which has been cut (an mp3 [hissy] circulates, containing a complete recording of the affected sketch from a 1965 off-air tape).
In the sketch, “Kenneth Horne Masterspy”, reference to a BBC disk jockey, the late Jimmy Savile, was cut. Jimmy is deemed a “non-person” by the BBC’s thought police (since October 2012).
Original duration of sketch: 9’59”
A cut at 11:39 (at 5:28 in the mp3), lasting 30 seconds. These lines
were cut, in a movie spoof (immediately after the line “An oval face
swam into view, framed by long blonde hair”):
• Kenneth Horne: “It was either the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen,
or Jimmy Savile.” (Laughter) “The vision spoke.”
• Betty Marsden: “Do you know who I am, Mr Horne?”
• Kenneth Horne: “The most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen.”
• Betty Marsden: “No, Jimmy Savile.” (Audience laughter) “No, please,
no relation to the disk jockey. Just a remarkable co-incidence.”
b. 2013-03-04 rpt
The repeat on 2013-03-04 (duration 28:05) includes this cut. At 08:13 the “Kenneth Horne Masterspy” sketch cuts the Jimmy Savile reference.
Additional Notes –
a. The title, The Man with the Golden Thunderball, spoofs two James Bond films: Thunderball and The Man With The Golden Gun.
b. The repeat on 2012-07-07 does NOT have any cuts I could find.
That repeat was part of “Comedy Greats – Overseas” [b01kjqzg],
a 3 hour special, which contained the TS Edit from a vinyl disc.
This was a special re-recording for the use of overseas stations, made by the BBC’s Transcription Service, with some scripted changes. It is NOT a re-edit taken from the original recording.
In this 3 hour special, Round The Horne begins at 2:03:52. No references to purely local UK celebrities (i.e. David Frost and Jimmy Savile) are included in the revised script, so there is nothing to cut.
c. I checked 3 other sketches from programme #12 against the mp3,
and found NO other cuts –
1. The sketch with Bill Pertwee as Dr Gaylord Haemoglobin has NO cuts.
“Trends in Health”. Original duration (mp3): 1’44”
2. The Rambling Sid Rumpo sketch with Kenneth Williams, about
the herring fishermen of Hampstead Garden Suburb, has NO cuts.
“Trends in Music”. Original duration (mp3): 1’45”
3. The Julian and Sandy sketch (Bona Homes gardening) has NO cuts.
“Trends in the Home”. Original duration (mp3): 3’43”
# ITEM 07
Title of programme –
Round The Horne – s01e15 – 1965-06-13 (“Secret Rocket Base in Haiti”)
Sketch Comedy, starring Kenneth Horne and Kenneth Williams.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00j272g
Date of Repeat –
2021-04-15
Description of cuts (with length, starting point) –
A cut at 9:52 lasting 6 seconds.
In a sketch set in Haiti, master spy Kenneth Horne is startled when a native skin diver surfaces — in Ken’s bath! These 2 lines were cut:
• Kenneth Horne: “He spoke.”
• Bill Pertwee : (Foreign accent) “Pass along the bath, man.”
(Audience laughter)
Last uncut repeat : 2018-04-11
All repeats are broadcast from the TS Edit (the original duration of which, without the playout music, is 26:52)
Reason for cut –
BBC bias, i.e. political correctness, as the dialogue does NOT contain any offensive terms.
Merely having a foreign accent is enough to get a joke banned by the BBC’s thought police.
# ITEM 08
Title of programme –
Round The Horne – s01e16 – 1965-06-20
Sketch Comedy, starring Kenneth Horne and Kenneth Williams.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00j7qhl
Date of Repeat –
2021-04-22
Description of cuts (with length, starting point) –
1st cut at 0:00 lasting 23 seconds.
2nd cut at 12:18 lasting 16 seconds.
Last uncut repeat : 2018-04-18
Cut #1: The first 23 seconds of the programme are cut –
• Douglas Smith: “Here are details of some of this week’s programmes
on BBC radio.”
• Bill Pertwee: “In community singing on Sunday, the Reverend Angus
Smith will not be leading his congregation in
singing The Skye Boat Song.” (Audience laughter)
• Kenneth Williams: “And on Thursday, you’ll be able to hear Mr Peter
Cadbury reading excerpts from his autobiography,
entitled ‘Reminiscences of a Chocolate-covered
Tycoon’. ” (Audience laughter)
• Douglas Smith: “Meanwhile…”
Reason for cut #1 –
a. I’ve no idea who the Reverend Smith is. Nor why the harmless Scottish ballad, ‘The Skye Boat Song’, is now deemed politically incorrect.
b. In 1965 Peter Cadbury was the boss of the company Cadbury’s Chocolates. A 19th Century music-hall star, G H Elliott, sang a popular song about a Chocolate coloured coon.
Cut #2: The following lines are cut, at 12:18, after Kenneth Williams
puts on a striped blazer and a straw hat –
• Kenneth Horne: “Then, quickly blacking-up his face, he leaped onto
the table, and…”
• Kenneth Williams: (Sings in style of Al Jolson) “Swanney, how I love
you…” [rest of line drowned by audience laughter]
• Kenneth Horne: “All right, we’ll let you know. We’ll let you know!”
• Kenneth Williams: (Continues singing, but unintelligibly) “Oo, that’s
too high!”
• Kenneth Horne: “Yes.”
Reason for cut #2 –
Presumably because the joke implies that Kenneth Williams is supposedly appearing in blackface. But in fact that never happened, because stage make-up is not used on radio shows.
BBC bias, as the cut dialogue does NOT contain any offensive terms.
# ITEM 09
Title of programme –
Round the Horne – s03e04 1967-03-05 – “Lipharvest Of The River”
Sketch Comedy, starring Kenneth Horne and Kenneth Williams
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007jlx6
Date of Repeat –
2022-08-08
Description of cuts (with length, starting point) –
A cut at 15:42 lasting 11 seconds. These lines were cut, when Kenneth Horne is introducing a musical number sung by the Fraser Hayes Four:
• Kenneth Horne: “… to sing -“
• Bill Pertwee: [Makes unintelligible noises]
• Kenneth Horne: “Which, freely translated, means ‘Seranata’! Ladies and gentlemen, the Fraser Hayes Four.”
Last uncut repeat : 2019-12-10
Reason for cut –
BBC bias, i.e. political correctness. The cut dialogue does NOT contain any offensive terms.
ITEM #10
Title of programme –
Round The Horne – s04e16 – 1968-06-09
Sketch Comedy, starring Kenneth Horne and Kenneth Williams.
The last-ever episode.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00tlwzb
Date of Repeat –
2020-08-27
Description of cuts (with length, starting point) –
A cut at 4:56 lasting 18 seconds. A joke about Indian bus conductors
is removed, in a sketch about big-game hunting in Africa:
• Kenneth Horne: “And so the Expedition began. We soon met up with a
dark skinned native. ‘How far is it to the Zambezi?’ ”
• Kenneth Williams: (Accent) “I don’t know man, this bus only goes as
far as Golders Green!” (Audience laughter)
Last uncut repeat : 2016-05-31
Note: This episode is included in the 3 Hour Special, “Horne of Plenty” (t/x 1 May 2004), a documentary about ‘Beyond Our Ken’ and ‘Round the Horne’. Repeats of this Special (e.g. 2020-04-04, 2021-08-28) are uncut: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007k2b6
Reason for cut –
BBC bias, i.e. political correctness, as the dialogue does NOT contain any offensive terms.
Merely having a foreign accent is enough to get a joke banned by the BBC’s thought police.
# ITEM 11
Title of programme –
I’m Sorry I’ll Read That Again – 1967-05-14
Sketch Comedy, starring John Cleese, Tim Brooke Taylor, Bill Oddie.
The 4th edition in the 1967 series.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00vdc3h
Date of Repeat –
2020-09-14
Description of cuts (with length, starting point) –
Cuts totalling 73 seconds.
Last uncut repeat : 2017-12-01
1st cut at 16:07 (lasting 60 seconds). These lines were cut in Eskimo sketch (skit featuring a dog sledge pulled by Huskies):
• Bill Oddie : “All we need to find now is a good dog team.”
• David Hatch : (Chinese accent) “Ah. Perhaps I can help.”
• Bill Oddie : “Good heavens. A little furry Chinaman.”
• David Hatch : “No, no. I am Eskimo.”
• Tim Brooke Taylor: “You sound like a Chinaman.”
• David Hatch : (Jewish accent) “Who knows what an Eskimo sounds like,
already.”
• Bill Oddie : “No, no.”
• David Hatch : “Yes, yes. You want to buy team of dogs?”
• Bill Oddie : “Yes.”
• David Hatch : “Mush.”
• Bill Oddie : “Okay mate.”
• David Hatch : “Mush.”
• Bill Oddie : “Here boys, mush.”
• Sound F/X : (Dogs barking)
• Jo Kendall : “Ahh! It’s a little husky.”
• Tim Brooke Taylor: “Well, it’s got a sore throat.”
• David Hatch : “Well, there we are, very obedient dogs. You call mush,
they answer.”
• Bill Oddie : “Splendid. How much?”
• Sound F/X : (Dogs barking)
• Bill Oddie : “No, not mush…”
• Sound F/X : (Dogs barking)
• Bill Oddie : “…money.”
• David Hatch : “Oh. Hundred pound.”
• Bill Oddie : “Too much.”
• Sound F/X : (Dogs barking)
• David Hatch : “Fifty pound.”
• Bill Oddie : “That’s much…”
• Sound F/X : (Dogs barking)
• Bill Oddie : “… more like it. And does it take much…”
• Sound F/X : (Dogs barking)
• Bill Oddie : “… to feed them?”
• David Hatch : “No. Half a pound of mush…”
• Sound F/X : (Dogs barking)
• David Hatch : “…rooms. (Audience laughter) Or a large plate of
sausage and mash.”
• Sound F/X : (Dogs barking)
2nd cut at 20:58 (lasting 13 seconds). These lines were cut in fishing sketch (poof joke?):
• David Hatch : “I’ve got an old flatfish.”
• Jo Kendall : “I’ll have it.”
• Tim Brooke Taylor : “No. Look, it’s bad.”
• Jo Kendall : “You mean…”
• Tim Brooke Taylor : “Yes. This is no plaice for a girl like you!”
(Audience groans at fish pun)
• David Hatch : “But we must do something to keep warm!”
• Tim Brooke Taylor : (As Lady Constance) “Er…” (Audience laughter)
Reason for cuts –
1st cut: BBC bias, i.e. political correctness, as the programme does NOT contain any offensive terms.
Merely having a foreign accent is enough to get a sketch banned by the BBC’s thought police.
Ludicrous to cut what is just a lengthy dog sketch.
2nd cut: Unknown. Possibly Tim (playing a regular female character,
Lady Constance) was mistakenly thought to be playing a poof.
But the cut dialogue does NOT contain any offensive terms.
Fully one-third of the programmes in this list are from the sketch show
“I’m Sorry I’ll Read That Again”. So many of its episodes are banned or
cut that a newspaper wag called it I’m Sorry I Won’t Read That Again.
# ITEM 12
Title of programme –
I’m Sorry I’ll Read That Again – 1967-06-04
Sketch Comedy, starring John Cleese, Tim Brooke Taylor, Bill Oddie.
The 7th edition in the 1967 series.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00vt6jy
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00vt6jt
Date of Repeat –
2020-10-05.
Description of cuts (with length, starting point) –
A cut at 22:37 lasting 13 seconds.
In a historical sketch where the setting is a dark night, these 2 lines were removed:
• David Hatch: “The black night closed in on them.”
• Bill Oddie: (As black Knight) “How d’ya do der, honey?” (Applause)
Last uncut repeat : 2017-12-22
Further information –
1st sketch: (song) “Should I let my ferret go?”
Other Sketches: A “Grim” fairy tale of Goldilocks and the Green Witch; a Russian love song; the transport cafe that discovered Haute Cuisine.
Reason for cut –
BBC bias, i.e. political correctness, as the dialogue does NOT contain any offensive terms.
Merely having a foreign accent is enough to get a joke banned by the BBC’s thought police.
# ITEM 13
Title of programme –
I’m Sorry I’ll Read That Again – 1967-06-18
Sketch Comedy, starring John Cleese, Tim Brooke Taylor, Bill Oddie.
The 9th edition in the 1967 series.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00w6bw8
Date of Repeat –
Should have aired on 2020-10-19 in the latest repeat of the 1967 series.
Description of cuts (with length, starting point) –
Episode banned. Last repeat: 2018-01-05 (uncut)
Reason for banning –
BBC bias, i.e. political correctness, as the programme does NOT contain any offensive terms.
Sketches include: A cricket lament; and Wild West drama The Lone Stranger (“Lone Ranger” spoof).
The cricket sketch includes jokes about foreigners and poofs, plus a song about Test Match cricket sung with (horror!) a foreign accent. The Lone Ranger spoof includes jokes about Red Indians and poofs.
# ITEM 14
Title of programme –
I’m Sorry I’ll Read That Again – 1967-07-02
Sketch Comedy, starring John Cleese, Tim Brooke Taylor, Bill Oddie.
The 11th edition in the 1967 series.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00whw3r
Date of Repeat –
Should have aired on 2020-10-26 or 2020-11-02, in the latest repeat
of the 1967 series.
Description of cuts (with length, starting point) –
Episode banned. Last repeat: 2018-01-19 (uncut)
NB: The BBC website indicates a further rpt on 2020-10-26, but according
to my notes it was Episode 12 that was repeated on that date.
Further information –
Sketches: 1st sketch: An osteopath’s 1st day. Other sketches include: a stockingless thief; and “Shakespeare: from Bard to Verse”.
Reason for banning –
BBC bias, i.e. political correctness, as the programme does NOT contain any offensive terms.
Speculated to be because the Panel Game sketch, “Round The World Linkup”, includes jokes about poofs; there is a song poking fun at fat people; and in a sketch spoofing Shakespeare’s play “Othello”, Bill does a spoof West Indian accent.
# ITEM 15
Title of programme –
I’m Sorry I’ll Read That Again – 1967-07-23
Sketch Comedy, starring John Cleese, Tim Brooke Taylor, Bill Oddie.
The 14th edition in the 1967 series.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wwn0j
Date of Repeat –
2020-11-09
Description of cuts (with length, starting point) –
Cuts totalling 58 seconds.
Last uncut repeat : 2018-02-09
1st cut at 16:26 lasting 8 seconds. These lines were cut:
• Effects : (Dance music for the traditional dance known as The
Black Bottom, in “Red Shadow” Foreign Legion spoof)
• Bill Oddie : “What’s that?”
• John Cleese: “The black bottom.” (Audience laughter at bottom joke)
• Bill Oddie : (Indistinct, drowned out by audience)
2nd cut at 23:33 lasting 50 seconds. These lines were cut:
• John Cleese : “Very well, if you can fit four of them into one sentence
I shall spare you all.
• Tim Brooke Taylor: “We have to fit four jokes into one sentence?”
• Bill Oddie : “Four jokes? Into one sentence? It’s impossible.”
• Tim Brooke Taylor: “David, perhaps you could…”
• David Hatch : “Oh. Oh dear. Yes. Um… I and my German friend, Hans,
ran into the black night.”
• Bill Oddie : “How d’ya do der, honey?”
• All : “One.”
• David Hatch : “And although Hans knees were knocking…”
• Bill Oddie : “Hans what?”
• David Hatch : “Hans knees.”
• All : “And boomp-sey-daisy. Two.”
• David Hatch : “I felt self assured.”
• Bill Oddie : “Self what?”
• David Hatch : “Assured. Assured.”
• All : “All fall down. Three.”
• David Hatch : “Er…”
• Bill Oddie : “Go on!”
• David Hatch : “Oh!”
• John Cleese : “That’s only three. I want one more.”
• Tim Brooke Taylor: “I’ll give you this little gold box of priceless jewels.”
• John Cleese : “No, I want another funny.”
• David Hatch : “I’ll… I’ll try.”
Reason for cuts –
1st cut : BBC bias. The cut dialogue does NOT contain any offensive terms.
Probably the child who makes Woke cuts at the BBC had never
heard of the dance known as the Black Bottom, and mistakenly
thought it was a reference to a well-known type of foreigner.
2nd cut : Probably because it includes a line banned in a previous
episode, above (see the 7th episode of this 1967 series).
BBC bias, i.e. political correctness, as the cut dialogue does
not contain any offensive terms. Merely having a foreign accent
is enough to get a sketch banned by the BBC’s thought police.
# ITEM 16
Title of programme –
I’m Sorry I’ll Read That Again – 1969-03-30
Sketch Comedy, starring John Cleese, Tim Brooke Taylor, Bill Oddie.
The 12th edition in the 1969 series: “Electric Time Trousers, part 12”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01211y0
Date of Repeat –
2021-07-08
Description of cuts (with length, starting point) –
A cut at 8:12 lasting 49 seconds.
Last uncut repeat : 2018-08-03
Song sung by Bill Oddie is cut (known as “The Henry V song”).
In a rock-and-roll musical adaptation of Act 3 Scene 1 of Shakespeare’s
play Henry V, a song performed by Bill Oddie is cut by 49 seconds.
Lyrics seem, so far as audible, to be lines from Shakespeare’s play,
set to music. Original song ran 3:57 (from 8:12 to 12:09).
Due to the loudness of the music, and Bill’s diction, it’s difficult
to comprehend the lyrics! So it’s not clear which part of the song
has been cut, only that its overall length is reduced by 49 seconds.
Reason for cut –
BBC bias, i.e. political correctness, as the dialogue does NOT contain
any offensive terms.
Shakespeare is evidently now deemed politically incorrect.
# ITEM 17
Title of programme –
I’m Sorry I’ll Read That Again – 1970-02-22
Sketch Comedy, starring John Cleese, Tim Brooke Taylor, Bill Oddie.
The 2nd edition in the 1970 series: “Canterbury Tales” (a Chaucer spoof)
(1st sketch is “Advert for Radio Prune”).
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b005czxy
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007jqyp
Date of Repeat –
Should have aired on 2018-08-24 in the latest repeat of the 1970 series.
Description of cuts (with length, starting point) –
Episode banned. Last repeat: 2011-07-11
An uncut recording was released on CD in 2007 by BBC Audiobooks Ltd.
Uploaded [by Slimoo?] as mp3 torrent, 256kbps (54.7 MB).
The BBC CDs of “ISIRTA” have horrid amounts of noise reduction. No edits,
but poor audio quality. 320 kbps radio repeats have better audio quality.
Reason for banning –
Possibly because of a 5 second mention of comic and singer Rolf Harris in
the introduction to the Canterbury Tales sketch (at 12:47). Rolf has been
declared a “non-person” by the BBC’s thought police (since June 2014).
At one point in that sketch, John Cleese does a spoof Indian accent.
The sketch features a lengthy skit about a soap powder that can give
anyone – even Indian bus conductors – a posh upper class accent.
BBC bias, i.e. political correctness, as the programme does NOT contain
any offensive terms. Merely John Cleese spoofing (horror!) a foreign
accent is enough to get a broadcast banned by the BBC’s thought police.
# ITEM 18
Title of programme –
I’m Sorry I’ll Read That Again – 1970-03-01
Sketch Comedy, starring John Cleese, Tim Brooke Taylor, Bill Oddie.
The 3rd edition in the 1970 series: “The G.P.O.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b012lm9q
Date of Repeat –
2018-08-24
Description of cuts (with length, starting point) –
A cut at 7:53 lasting 2 seconds. This dialogue was deleted:
“Rolf Harris and”
Last uncut repeat : 2016-03-23 (duration 29’39”)
An uncut recording was released on CD in 2007 by BBC Audiobooks Ltd.
Uploaded [by Slimoo?] as mp3 torrent, 256kbps (54.0 MB).
The BBC CDs of “ISIRTA” have horrid amounts of noise reduction. No edits,
but poor audio quality. 320 kbps radio repeats have better audio quality.
Reason for Rolf Harris cut –
Rolf has been declared a “non-person” by the BBC’s thought police
(since June 2014).
# ITEM 19
Title of programme –
I’m Sorry I’ll Read That Again – 1970-03-15
Sketch Comedy, starring John Cleese, Tim Brooke Taylor, Bill Oddie.
The 5th edition in the 1970 series: “Billy Bunter of Greyfriars School”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b012xpyk
Last uncut repeat (uncut episode has duration of 28’53”):
2011-08-01 (definitely), 2013-12-18 (possibly)
Date of Repeat (2018) : 2018-09-07
Description of cuts (with length, starting point) –
1st cut at 4:45, lasting 8 seconds. The following words were deleted (sex-change joke) :
“Mr Rolf Harris has been made a Dame of the British Empire.
A hospital spokesman said his condition was satisfactory.”
Reason for Rolf Harris cut –
Rolf has been declared a “non-person” by the BBC’s thought police
(since June 2014).
Date of Repeat (2021) : 2021-10-14
Note: An extra 1 minute 35 seconds cut since 2018 repeat.
Description of cuts (with length, starting point) –
2nd cut at 12:49, lasting 24 seconds. These lines were deleted :
• Bill Oddie: “And can we have tonight’s author please.”
• Jo Kendall: “Certainly, Annona. And tonight’s author is Colonel
Coonstrangler OBE, MCC, 150 All Out — who has just returned
from spending six years living with African gibbons. And
his play is called ‘[Gibbon noises]’ (Audience laughter),
or ‘Billy Bunter of Greyfriars School’.”
• Bill Oddie: “Oh dear.”
3rd cut at 14:16, lasting 59 seconds. These lines were deleted
(involving the Indian schoolboy, Hurree Jamset Ram Singh):
• David Hatch : “Cherry and Wharton were jolly fed up with being kept
waiting, and in the corner was another fellow who was
browned-off.”
• Graeme Garden: [With accent] “Oh my goodness, a browned-off… [drowned by
audience laughter].”
• David Hatch : “This was their tinted chum, Harry Ramsit Jam Butty.”
• Graeme Garden: [With accent] “Oh gawd blimey, where is the esteemed and
gimlet-eyed Squelch?”
• Bill Oddie : “Hang on, hang on. Now then, Mr Clever Dick so-called
Harry Ramsit Jam Roll, I have reason to believe you are
impersonating a tinted person.”
• Graeme Garden: [With accent] “You what? what?”
• Bill Oddie : “I must ask you, are you written by Johnny Speight?”
• Graeme Garden: [With accent] “No, I’m not.”
• Bill Oddie : “Oh! Oh! Oh well, in that case I’m arresting you. You are
an incitement to racial prejudice, and in very bad taste.”
• Graeme Garden: [With accent] “No, no, but I’m a real tinted person.”
• Bill Oddie : “Oh! Oh ho! A real one. With a speaking part in a comedy
series?”
• Graeme Garden: [With accent] “Yes! Yes!”
• Bill Oddie : “Oh. Oh well in that case, please accept this O.B.E.”
• Graeme Garden: [With accent] “Thank you very much.”
• David Hatch : “Harry Ramsit Jam and Bread accepted the valuable award,
and began to file it down to a ten-shilling piece.”
4th cut at 16:27, lasting 5 seconds. These lines were deleted
(involving the Indian schoolboy, Hurree Jamset Ram Singh):
• David Hatch : “Harry Ramsit Jamboree O.B.E.?”
• Graeme Garden: [With accent] “Here, prolific terrific sir.”
• David Hatch : “Billy [Bunter]…?”
5th cut at 19:59, lasting 6 seconds. These lines were deleted (poof joke):
• Graeme Garden : “Two and a half.”
• Jo Kendall : “And some puff-pastry.”
• Tim Brooke Taylor: [effeminate voice] “Mmmm, yes.”
Reason for cuts #3, #4 and #5 –
BBC bias. The cut dialogue does NOT contain any offensive terms
(wog, coon, nigger, etc).
Last uncut repeat (uncut episode has duration of 28’53”):
2011-08-01 (definitely), 2013-12-18 (possibly). But even
the 2018 repeat is more complete than the 2021 repeat.
# ITEM 20
Title of programme –
I’m Sorry I’ll Read That Again – 1970-03-22
Sketch Comedy, starring John Cleese, Tim Brooke Taylor, Bill Oddie.
The 6th edition in the 1970 series: “Murder on the 3.17 to Cleethorpes”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01321dr
Date of Repeat –
2018-09-14
Description of cuts (with length, starting point) –
1. 1st Cut at 3:16 (3:16 to 6:10). Length of cut 2:54
Sketch deleted: Rolf Harris dirty songbook
A musical sketch about comic and singer Rolf Harris, spoofing
some of his best known comic songs, is cut from this repeat.
2. 2nd Cut at 6:29, lasting 2 seconds.
Deletes the words “50 naked negros”.
Last uncut repeat : (believed to be) 2014-01-08
An uncut recording was released on CD in 2007 by BBC Audiobooks Ltd,
duration 29’25”. Uploaded [by Slimoo?] as mp3 torrent, 256kbps (53.9 MB).
The BBC CDs of “ISIRTA” have horrid amounts of noise reduction. No edits,
but poor audio quality. 320 kbps radio repeats have better audio quality.
Reason for Rolf Harris cut –
Rolf has been declared a “non-person” by the BBC’s thought police
(since June 2014).
# ITEM 21
Title of programme –
I’m Sorry I’ll Read That Again – 1970-04-26
Sketch Comedy, starring John Cleese, Tim Brooke Taylor, Bill Oddie.
The 11th edition in the 1970 series: “20,000 Leaks Under the Sea”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00h38dy
Date of Repeat –
2018-10-19
Description of cuts (with length, starting point) –
A cut at 4:46 lasting 33 seconds. These lines were cut –
• Tim Brooke Taylor: “‘Top of the Pops’: Scandle after the latest edition
of BBC TV’s ‘Top of the Pops’, when a missing tv
camera was found wandering about, lost, up a girl’s
miniskirt.” (Audience laughter) “[Indistinct] was
charged with indecent assault. A BBC spokesman
added —”
• John Cleese : (Spokesman) “We have noticed that it is possible to
see right up to the girls’ knickers, owing to the
shortness of their miniskirts. So we’ve asked the
girls to drop them.” (Audience laughter)
• Bill Oddie : “Also on a recent ‘Top of the Pops’, Tony Blackburn
presented a prize for the dolliest dresser – to
himself!”
Last uncut repeat : 2011-09-12
Reason for cuts –
1. Reason for miniskirt cut: A law was passed (the “Upskirting law”),
in 2018, to criminalise men who stick a camera up a woman’s skirt
[news report in The Times, 14 June 2020]. This cut is BBC hypocrisy,
as it was already an offence at common law in 1970 (public indecency)
at the time the episode was made.
But this joke does not even violate that law, which has no application
to miniskirts. A miniskirt (which is akin to a belt) is too short to
stick a camera up it; any girl who wore a miniskirt in 1970 did so
because she wanted to show her knickers! It was a rebellion thing.
2. Reason for Tony Blackburn cut: Presumably because Tony’s surname
contains the word ‘black’. All references to black – even merely
being named Black – are now to be banned!
Evidently Tony is to be the latest victim of political correctness!
# ITEM 22
Title of programme –
I’m Sorry I’ll Read That Again – 1970-05-03
Sketch Comedy, starring John Cleese, Tim Brooke Taylor, Bill Oddie.
The 12th edition in the 1970 series: “Oedipus Rex” / “Greek Tragedy”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00h8kxm
Date of Repeat –
2018-10-26
Description of cuts (with length, starting point) –
A cut at 2:46 lasting 11 seconds. This line was cut :
• Jo Kendall: “Then there’s the special holiday edition of The Rolf
Harris Show. And there’s a surprise treat in this show:
Rolf Harris will be away on holiday.” (Audience laughter)
Last uncut repeat : 2014-02-12
Reason for Rolf Harris cut –
Rolf has been declared a “non-person” by the BBC’s thought police
(since June 2014).
# ITEM 23
Title of programme –
I’m Sorry I’ll Read That Again – 1970-05-10
Sketch Comedy, starring John Cleese, Tim Brooke Taylor, Bill Oddie.
The 13th edition in the 1970 series: “The Raymond Nostril Story”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00hg824
Date of Repeat –
2018-11-02
Description of cuts (with length, starting point) –
A cut at 23:14 lasting 6 seconds.
In a joke about exploding LP’s, this line was cut :
• David Hatch: “…and barricaded the doors with Rolf Harris records
(Audience laughter), which will go off if anyone touches them.”
Last uncut repeat : 2014-02-19 (but I can only find 2009-02-09)
Reason for Rolf Harris cut –
Rolf has been declared a “non-person” by the BBC’s thought police
(since June 2014).
# ITEM 24
Title of programme –
I’m Sorry I’ll Read That Again – 1973-12-02
Sketch Comedy, starring John Cleese, Tim Brooke Taylor, Bill Oddie.
The 5th edition of the 1973 series: “Song Of The South”
Date of Repeat –
Should have aired on 2018-12-07 in the latest repeat of the 1973 series.
Description of cuts (with length, starting point) –
Episode banned. Last repeat: A date unknown before 2010, on BBC Radio 7
Available on: .torrent (Uploader: Slimoo)
An uncut recording was released on CD in 2007 by BBC Audiobooks Ltd,
duration 26’49”. Uploaded [by Slimoo?] as mp3 torrent, 256kbps (49.2 MB).
The BBC CDs of “ISIRTA” have horrid amounts of noise reduction. No edits,
but poor audio quality. 320 kbps radio repeats have better audio quality.
Further information –
The sketches include:
Miss United Prune Finals / Scriptwriter Fired / Radio Prune Festival
of Light: Clean It Up Yourself Quiz / Censored Music / Motoring News /
Stars on Monday / Modern Toy Symphony by Haydn / The Song of the South
The BBC usually pretend this is a lost (wiped) episode.
Reason for banning –
BBC bias, i.e. political correctness. Possibly because the closing sketch,
How to speak Sambo (which occupies half the episode), in which the cast
do various (authentic) Southern accents, spoofs Disney’s 1946 film musical
Song of the South.
# ITEM 25
Title of programme –
I’m Sorry I’ll Read That Again – 1973-12-09
Sketch Comedy, starring John Cleese, Tim Brooke Taylor, Bill Oddie.
The 6th edition of the 1973 series: “Oklahoma”
Date of Repeat –
Should have aired on 2018-12-14 in the latest repeat of the 1973 series.
Description of cuts (with length, starting point) –
Episode banned. Last repeat: 2009-03-16 on BBC7 (BBC Radio 7) —
http://www.radio-lists.org.uk/7r/2009/R7_2009_0314-0320_3columns_6pt_6pages.pdf
Available on: .torrent (Uploader: Slimoo), 128 kbps mp3 (22.2 MB), as
a BBC Transcription Service vinyl edit, duration 24’18”
Available on Internet in 2 versions:
1. 80 kbps mp2/mp3 (good quality from DAB), duration 27’42” (15.8 MB)
2. 96 kbps m4a (with 1973 Announcer), start missing, 27’05” (18.3 MB)
Further information –
The sketches include:
By-Election Results / New Programmes: Phone-In / Female Newsreaders /
Bronte Sisters / London Symphony Orchestra / Phone Call /
Nixon Tape / The Ten Commandments / Nappy Love / Oklahoma!
The BBC usually pretend this is a lost (wiped) episode.
Reason for banning –
BBC bias, i.e. political correctness, as the programme does NOT contain
any offensive terms.
Perhaps because the closing sketch (which occupies half the episode)
spoofs the 1955 Hollywood movie musical, Oklahoma! ?
That sketch is just a general skit on the Wild West, no different to
the film comedy Carry On Cowboy: merely a general send-up of Cowboy
pictures. To ban the sketch is hypocrisy, as the BBC regularly show
old Westerns on BBC 2.
# ITEM 26
Title of programme –
Not in Front of the Children – s02e08 1970-11-22 – No Man at the Helm
Situation Comedy, starring Wendy Craig, Francis Matthews.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08htpmg
Date of Repeat –
2021-09-19
Description of cuts (with length, starting point) –
A cut at 8:12 lasting 2 seconds.
Discussing the children’s toys, this line was cut :
• Wendy Craig: “… and legless golliwogs.”
Last uncut repeat : 2019-03-27
Reason for cut –
BBC bias, i.e. political correctness.
# ITEM 27
Title of programme –
The Navy Lark – s12e07 1971-06-27 – “Sir Willoughby at Shanghai”
Situation Comedy, starring Leslie Phillips, Jon Pertwee, Stephen Murray.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b018jrgq
Date of Repeat –
Should have aired on 2020-12-04 in the latest repeat of the 1971 series.
Description of cuts (with length, starting point) –
Episode banned. Last repeat: 2017-01-11
The episode has been released by BBC Worldwide on a BBC Radio Collection
cassette [“Navy Lark” Vol.4 Shanghai Surprise] (in 1992, 1996 and 2000),
and on CD.
Reason for banning –
BBC bias, i.e. political correctness, as the programme does NOT contain
any offensive terms.
Possibly because part of the episode is set in China, with (horror!)
foreign accents. Now merely having a foreign accent is enough to get
a broadcast banned by the BBC’s thought police.
BBC hypocrisy, as they still sell this episode on CD.
# ITEM 28
Title of programme –
Lines From My Grandfather Christmas’s Forehead – 1971-12-24
Sketch Comedy, starring Ronnie Barker.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007jqqy
Date of Repeat –
2020-12-19 in Part 1 of “Barry Cryer’s Christmas Selection Box”,
a 3 hour special for Christmas.
Description of cuts (with length, starting point) –
A cut at 2:27:19 lasting 80 seconds.
Last uncut repeat: 2007-12-19 on BBC7 (BBC Radio 7)
Subsequent repeats omit the final sketch, “A Child’s Christmas in Wales”
(which spoofs a poem by Dylan Thomas).
The programme “Barry Cryer’s Christmas Selection Box” Part 1 was NEVER
broadcast uncut. When originally transmitted, on 2009-12-19, the cut
in the 1971 recording was already present.
Further information –
In the 2003-12-20 & 2007-12-19 repeats, the Dylan Thomas sketch runs from
22:06 to 23:26 (1 min 20 seconds), and the complete programme runs 24:38.
In Barry Cryer’s Christmas Selection Box, the 1971 show is cut
at 2:27:19 removing 80 seconds (reducing the 1971 show to 23:17).
Reason for cut –
Due to a copyright dispute between the BBC and Dylan Thomas’s estate.
The estate objected to the sketch quoting a short passage from a
very long poem written by the late Dylan Thomas.
Dylan Thomas wrote all the words in the sketch (and is credited as author
on this recording). Ronnie Barker edited them to achieve humour; the
complete poem, when recited, runs 20 minutes.
Because it was done for the purposes of caricature, parody or pastiche,
the copying does not infringe the author’s copyright in the poem
(Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988, section 30A).
Alternatively, because most of the text was NOT copied the copying does
not infringe the author’s copyright: where only a reasonable extract
from the complete work is reproduced, that does not infringe copyright
(Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988, section 59).
Section 59 replaced an older law, which granted exemption if not more
than 5 percent of the work was copied. So it’s likely that by copying
not more than 5 percent, the copy would not infringe s.59; and, further,
under s.59 this is so even if slightly more than 5 percent is copied.
# ITEM 29
Title of programme –
Lines From My Grandfather Christmas’s Forehead – 1971-12-24
Sketch Comedy, starring Ronnie Barker.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007jzvz
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000ckpy
Dates of broadcast –
2010-12-18, 2013-12-21, 2016-12-17, 2019-12-25 in Part 1 of
Sue Perkins’s Christmas Comedy Stocking, a 3 hour special.
Description of cuts (with length, starting point) –
Same cut as in the repeats of this programme in the Christmas Special
“Barry Cryer’s Christmas Selection Box”, detailed in the previous item.
A cut lasting 80 seconds. The sketch “A Child’s Christmas In Wales”,
spoofing a poem by Dylan Thomas, is entirely removed; reducing
“Lines From My Grandfather Christmas’s Forehead” to 23:17.
Last uncut repeat: “Sue Perkins’s Christmas Comedy Stocking” Part 1 was
NEVER broadcast uncut. When originally transmitted,
on 2010-12-18, the cut in the 1971 recording was
already present.
Reason for cut –
Due to a copyright dispute between the BBC and Dylan Thomas’s estate.
# ITEM 30
Title of programme –
Lines From My Grandfather’s Forehead – 1972-07-09
Sketch Comedy, starring Ronnie Barker.
The 1st programme of the Second series (1972 Series).
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b008kmkg
Date of Repeat –
2020-01-01
Description of cuts (with length, starting point) –
A cut at 3:05, lasting 1 second. Deletes the word “nigger” from the
reading of a list of entries under ‘N’ in the Oxford English dictionary.
Released uncut on the BBC’s 2 CD box set entitled “Lines From My
Grandfather’s Forehead” (CD 2 Side B).
Last uncut radio repeat: 2017-12-31
Reason for cut –
BBC’s left-wing bias. The Oxford English Dictionary is apparently now
deemed politically incorrect.
# ITEM 31
Title of programme –
Lines From My Grandfather’s Forehead – s02e04 1972-07-30 “Tune Your Violin”
Sketch Comedy, starring Ronnie Barker.
The 4th programme of the Second series (1972 Series).
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/????????
Date of Repeat –
Should have aired on 2020-01-22 during the latest repeat of the series.
Description of cuts (with length, starting point) –
Episode banned. Last repeat: 2003 on BBC7 (BBC Radio 7)
Reason for banning –
BBC bias, i.e. political correctness, as the programme does NOT contain
any offensive terms.
It is speculated that the episode was banned due to a long sketch spoofing
the politics and events of the 1930s, and which refers to a fictional
invasion of the Balkans (in the year “Nineteen Thoaty Thrim”).
This must be so, because that sketch occupies fully half of the programme,
so is by far the most likely candidate — except it’s utterly inoffensive!
The sketch, which begins at 14:11, is known as “Scrapbook for Nineteen
Thoaty Thrim” (also known as “the Nineteen Thirty Thrim sketch”).
Further Information –
A complete recording is in circulation, sourced from an mp3 file posted
on Archive.org: 128 kbps, 44.1 kHz, 26.9 MB; duration 29 min 23 sec.
An incomplete recording of the episode is in circulation, sourced from
a BBC Transcription Service edit (disc number 10) (ref: LFMGF No.10).
# ITEM 32
Title of programme –
Steptoe and Son – s03e04 1971-04-11 – TB or Not TB
Situation Comedy, starring Wilfrid Brambell, Harry H Corbett
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007jlnf
Date of Repeat –
2021-04-19
Description of cuts (with length, starting point) –
A cut at 23:13, lasting 1 second.
Albert (Wilfrid Brambell) is unsympathetic when Harold thinks he’s caught
tuberculosis (TB). The cut deletes the word “poofy” in this line:
• Wilfrid Brambell: “You’re carrying on like some poofy Victorian poet.”
Last uncut repeat : 2019-05-17
Reason for cut (poof joke) –
BBC bias, i.e. political correctness. The cut dialogue does NOT contain
any offensive terms (queer, pervert, etc).
The cut is hypocrisy. The line didn’t offend Wilfrid Brambell,
who was himself homosexual.
# ITEM 33
Title of programme –
Steptoe and Son – s03e05 – Without Prejudice
Situation Comedy, starring Wilfrid Brambell, Harry H Corbett
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007jlqh
Date of Repeat –
2021-04-26
Description of cuts (with length, starting point) –
A cut at 4:59, lasting 1 second.
Harold (Harry H Corbett) is discussing selling some antique furniture
to raise money. The cut deletes the word “poofy” in this line:
• Harry H Corbett: “We’re not far from the BBC here, we could unload it
onto some of them poofy producers up there.”
Last uncut repeat : 2019-04-05
Reason for cut (poof joke) –
BBC bias, i.e. political correctness, as the dialogue does NOT contain
any offensive terms (queer, pervert, etc).
The cut is hypocrisy. The line didn’t offend Wilfrid Brambell,
who was himself homosexual.
# ITEM 34
Title of programme –
Steptoe and Son – s05e04 1974-06-16 – A Winter’s Tale
Situation Comedy, starring Harry H Corbett, Wilfrid Brambell.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007jn7v
Date of Repeat –
2021-08-02
Description of cuts (with length, starting point) –
A cut at 13:22 lasting 7 seconds.
Arguing about holidaying abroad, Harold (Harry H Corbett) complains he
can’t date sun-tanned women in England in February. These lines were cut –
• Wilfrid Brambell: “There’s plenty round here. We’re the only white
family down the street!” (Audience laughter)
• Harry H Corbett : “I’m going, so you might as well get used to it…”
Last uncut repeat : 2019-09-06
Reason for cut –
BBC bias, i.e. political correctness, as the dialogue does NOT contain
any offensive terms.
# ITEM 35
Title of programme –
Frankie Howerd Show – 1973-06-17 – “At The Races”
Sketch Comedy, starring Frankie Howerd.
The 2nd programme of the 1973 Series
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007jmtr
Date of Repeat –
2015-10-11 and 2020-04-02
Description of cuts (with length, starting point) –
A cut at 12:48 lasting 5 seconds.
Tobruk, 1943; Trade Unions in the Army (sketch). Frankie is the Union’s
shop steward, who complains about having to fight the Gurkhas:
• Frankie: “The lads sir, they won’t be fighting with the Gurkhas,
they’re non-union.”
• Officer: “Non-union?”
• Frankie: “Blacklegs!” (Audience laughter) «—– This line was cut.
Last uncut repeat : 2003-05-03 on BBC7 (BBC Radio 7)
This episode was released uncut by BBC Enterprises Ltd on cassette,
on the “BBC Radio Collection” label, titled The Frankie Howerd Show,
in 1992 (ZBBC 1398) (2 cassette box set).
Reason for cut –
BBC bias, i.e. political correctness, as the dialogue does NOT contain
any offensive terms (wog, coon, etc).
During strikes in the 1960s and 1970s, the Trade Unions called a
strike-breaker (i.e. anyone who crossed a picket line) a “blackleg”.
Hence “The Frankie Howerd Show” used that term in this sketch about
Trade Unions. The term has no race connotation, it is simply a slang
term which the unions have always used about non-union employees.
# ITEM 36
Title of programme –
Howerd’s Ways – 2012-04-28 – The Radio Times of Frankie Howerd
Sketch Comedy, starring Frankie Howerd. 3 hour special.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01gvvy2
Date of Repeat –
2012-04-28
Description of cuts (with length, starting point) –
This compilation includes “The Frankie Howerd Show” of 1973-06-17,
with the same cut as in the repeat of it in the previous item (above):
“Blackleg” joke cut, in Trade Union sketch. The cut occurs at 16:37
in this 3 Hour special (5 seconds removed, including audience laughter).
Last uncut repeat: “Howerd’s Ways – Radio Times of Frankie Howerd” was
NEVER broadcast uncut. When originally transmitted,
on 2012-04-28, the cut in the 1973 recording was
already present.
Note: When this 3 hour special was next repeated, in 2020,
it had additional cuts. See next item, below.
Reason for cut –
BBC bias, i.e. political correctness, as the dialogue does NOT contain
any offensive terms.
During strikes in the 1960s and 1970s, the Trade Unions called a
strike-breaker (i.e. anyone who crossed a picket line) a “blackleg”.
Hence “The Frankie Howerd Show” used that term in this sketch about
Trade Unions. The term has no race connotation, it is simply a slang
term which the unions have always used about non-union employees.
# ITEM 37
Title of programme –
Howerd’s Ways – 2012-04-28 – The Radio Times of Frankie Howerd
Sketch Comedy, starring Frankie Howerd. 3 hour special.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01gvvy2
Date of Repeat –
2020-02-15
Description of cuts (with length, starting point) –
2 cuts. The original broadcast of this 3 hour tribute, in 2012, had
only one cut (to the broadcast of 1973-06-17) – see previous item.
Cut #1: This compilation includes “The Frankie Howerd Show” of
1973-06-17, with the same cut as in the repeat of that episode on 2015-10-11
(“Blackleg” joke cut, in Trade Union sketch).
The cut occurs at 16:37 in this 3 Hour compilation (5 seconds
removed, including audience laughter).
Cut #2: An additional 19 seconds is cut in the 2020 rpt, from a
1965 episode of “Now Listen” (half-hour sketch show: Gags from Frankie Howerd,
plus sketches with Carol Allen, Robertson Hare and Ken Connor),
from Light Programme, April 1965.
The cut occurs at 1:47:07 in this 3 Hour compilation (19 seconds
removed). Removes references to BBC radio disk jockey, the late
Jimmy Savile.
The following dialogue is cut, in a sketch in which BBC tv is
considering Frankie for a vacant job as a Disk Jockey (present
in the broadcast of 2012-04-28 from 1:47:08 to 1:47:27) :
• Frankie Howerd: “After all, you know, I make a change from David
Jacobs, and I’m prettier than Jimmy Savile. Have you seen him,
Jimmy Savile? Have you seen him lately? Gilt casuals, gold lamé
braces, and a foam-backed vest. Not that I’m decrying the man.
Oh no, far from it. I mean, to each his own… if you like that
sort of gear.”
Last uncut repeat : Cut #2 is not present in the rpt of 2012-04-28
Reason for cut #2 –
Jimmy Savile is now deemed a “non-person” by the BBC’s thought police
(since October 2012), despite never being convicted of any offence.
# ITEM 38
Title of programme –
Dad’s Army – s01e02 1974-02-04 – Museum Piece
Situation Comedy, starring Arthur Lowe.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007jrv9
Date of Repeat –
2021-03-19
Description of cuts (with length, starting point) –
A cut at 22:22 lasting 2 seconds. This line was cut:
Corporal Jones: “Yellow fiends!”
Last uncut repeat : 2019-03-11
Reason for cut –
BBC bias, i.e. political correctness, as the dialogue does NOT contain
any offensive terms (wog, chink, etc).
Clive Dunn’s reference to the brutal Chinese, in the 1899 Boxer Rebellion,
as ‘yellow fiends’. The cut is biased, since a reference to ‘black fiends’
would not have been cut, as references to ‘black’ are not cut.
# ITEM 39
Title of programme –
Dad’s Army – 1974-12-24 – Present Arms : 1974 Christmas Special (60 min)
Situation Comedy, starring Arthur Lowe.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007jqrv
PID = b007jqrv
VID = b005cks1
Date of Repeat –
2021-12-24
Description of cuts (with length, starting point) –
A cut at 33:19 lasting 16 seconds. The following patter was cut from
comedian Charlie Cheeseman’s stand-up comedy routine, in a scene at
a variety theatre :
• Mr Cheeseman: “So the Air Raid Warden shouted out: ‘Ere missus, you’ve
got a chink in your bedroom! So she poked her head out of the window
and said: Do what? He said: You’ve got a chink in your bedroom!
Oh, she said, the liar, he told me he was a Japanese Admiral.”
(Audience laughter)
Note : On 2020-12-20 the episode was broadcast, but was removed from
BBC iPlayer after a few days. The station was marked “off air”
for that hour, to prevent playing or accessing the episode.
On 2021-12-24 the episode was broadcast, with this joke cut
(because it contains the word “chink”).
Reason for cut –
BBC bias, i.e. political correctness. Contains one joke about a chink in
the wartime blackout: a double-entendre, perhaps a reference to showing
a chink of light in the blackout, or perhaps a reference to a Chinaman.
Last uncut repeat : 2020-12-20. Recordings of the live broadcast, or
live stream, are uncut. As are downloads from iPlayer,
where it was briefly available for a few days.
# ITEM 40
Title of programme –
Dad’s Army – s03e18 1976-07-13 – The Recruit
Situation Comedy, starring Arthur Lowe.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007jqzq
Date of Repeat –
2022-04-22
Description of cuts (with length, starting point) –
A cut at 07:49 lasting 5 seconds.
In the following exchange, concerning a James Cagney movie, Walker’s
dialogue (a Yellow Peril joke) was cut :
• Private Pike : “Remember ‘Angels With Dirty Faces’? James Cagney was
going to the [electric] chair, and Pat O’Brien as the Priest told him
to behave like a coward, so that the Dead End Kids wouldn’t think he
was a hero. And in the end he went shouting and screaming, and carrying-on
something awful. See? So he died all yellow.”
• Private Walker: “Yellow? What are you talking about, that was
Charlie Chan.” (Audience laughter)
Last uncut repeat : 2018-01-01 definitely; 2020-04-06 possibly
Reason for cut –
BBC bias, i.e. political correctness, as the dialogue does NOT contain
any offensive terms (wog, chink, etc).
Contains one joke about a Chinaman’s colour being yellow. The cut is
biased, because their being yellow is a biological fact; and because
a reference to a black man being black would not have been cut, as
references to ‘black’ are not routinely cut.
# ITEM 41
Title of programme –
The Small Intricate Life of Gerald C Potter – s02e03 1977-11-23 – The Club
Situation Comedy, starring Ian Carmichael, Charlotte Mitchell
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007jxjk
Date of Repeat –
2022-09-08
Description of cuts (with length, starting point) –
A cut at 13:11 lasting 1 second.
When Mrs Potter (co-star Charlotte Mitchell) is watching a tv news report,
the word ‘black’ is cut in this line :
• Charlotte Mitchell: “Switch off that black General, his teeth hurt my eyes.”
Last uncut repeat : 2018-09-25
Reason for cut –
BBC bias, i.e. political correctness. The cut dialogue does NOT contain
any offensive terms.
Merely using the word ‘black’ is enough to get a joke banned by the
BBC’s thought police. All references to black are now to be banned!
# ITEM 42
Title of programme –
Frankie Howerd Variety Show – s01e03 1978-11-07 – Guest Anita Harris
Sketch Comedy, starring Frankie Howerd
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007jr6r
Date of Repeat –
2017-04-30
Note: The repeat on 2013-08-03 was also cut
Description of cuts (with length, starting point) –
A cut at 32:12 lasting 18 seconds. This dialogue was cut :
• George Roper: “I was in Bradford the other week. It’s very colourful
y’ know. D’ y’ know, I felt like a spot on a domino. (Audience laughter)
Some places in Bradford, you have to wait ’til it snows to count the
population. (Audience laughter) Sorry about that, brother.”
Last uncut repeat : 2012-11-03
Reason for cut –
BBC bias, i.e. political correctness, as the dialogue does NOT contain
any offensive terms.
# ITEM 43
Title of programme –
Albert and Me – s02e04 1983-04-06 – Casual Labour
Situation Comedy, starring Robert Lindsay and Pat Coombs
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0480vfp
Date of Repeat –
2022-05-26
Description of cuts (with length, starting point) –
A cut at 1:15 lasting 3 seconds. This line was cut, when Brian explains
his boss’s reaction to him bringing up baby Albert as a single father :
• Robert Lindsay: “He thinks I’m a closet poofter.” (Audience laughter)
Last uncut repeat : 2020-07-07
Reason for cut (poof joke) –
BBC bias, i.e. political correctness, as the dialogue does NOT contain
any offensive terms (queer, pervert, etc).
# ITEM 44
Title of programme –
Listen to Les – s10e02 – 1985-01-27
Sketch Comedy, starring Les Dawson.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01ms5j6
Date of Repeat –
2018-06-22
Description of cut #1 (with length, starting point) –
Cut #1: A cut at 0:51 lasting 13 seconds. In a joke about hang-gliding,
this line was cut :
• Les Dawson: “[Mangus O’Flahrty]… the first man to discover that if
a bad tempered Japanese monk goes hang-gliding, there’s
bound to be a nasty nip in the air.” (Audience laughter)
Last uncut repeat : 2016-03-14
Reason for cut #1 –
BBC bias, i.e. political correctness. The cut dialogue does NOT contain
any offensive terms (wog, chink, etc).
Description of cut #2 (with length, starting point) –
Cut #2: A cut at 2:14 lasting 2 minutes 10 seconds. In a sketch about
elocution lessons, this dialogue was cut :
• Les Dawson: “Oddly enough it wasn’t O’Flahrty’s size that was his main
problem. It was his accent, which was very pronounced.
And things came to a head one day when he went into a
tobaconist’s shop and said, (accent) ‘Give me 20 Players
untipped cigarettes please.’ And the girl behind the
counter said, ‘You’re Irish, aren’t you?’ And that did it.
Mangus knew what he had to do. And to get rid of his
accent, and become what he’d always wanted to be, a BBC
newsreader, for five years he studied speech therapy,
in Zurich, Geneva — and Rhyll.” (Audience laughter)
“For five years he said, over and over again:
(posh accent) ‘Hi ni, brine kiy’. ” (Audience laughter)
“Five hard, bitter years, and yet he succeeded beyond
his wildest dreams. As he was leaving with his diploma,
his tutor said: (German accent) ‘I am so proud of you,
Mangus. You are my star pupil.’ And he said: (posh
accent) ‘Thank you me dear sir, and for the first time
in my chequered career I feel the confidence to wax
eloquence.’ He got back to Manchester on the charter
flight. And he was so confident, he thought he could
audition for Stuart Hall’s job. On the way, he went into
a shop, and he said in a clear and very concise diction:
(posh accent) ‘Please purvey to me 20 of your untipped
cigarettes, which must contain the finest of the Virginia
tobaccos.’ And the feller behind the counter said,
‘You’re Irish, aren’t you?’” (Audience laughter)
“And Mangus said: (posh accent) ‘How on Earth did you know
that?’ And the feller said, ‘Because this is a Chemists!’”
(Audience laughter)
“And that did it. That one final retort did it. Mangus
went mad, began to think he was a Cornish pasty, and
one night last year he flaked to death…”
Last uncut repeat : 2016-03-14
Reason for cut #2 –
Stuart Hall is now deemed a “non-person” by the BBC’s thought police
(since June 2013)
# ITEM 45
Title of programme –
Beachcomber By The Way – s01e01 – 1989-03-18
Sketch Comedy, starring Richard Ingrams and Patricia Routledge.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0080jmp
Date of Repeat –
2021-02-10
Description of cuts (with length, starting point) –
A cut at 4:24 lasting 4 seconds. This line was cut:
• Patricia Routledge: “Fuzzie-wuzzies!”
(Presumably the same fuzzie wuzzies that Corporal Jones routinely
mentions in “Dad’s Army”)
Last uncut repeat : 2019-02-26
Reason for cut –
BBC bias, i.e. political correctness. The cut dialogue does NOT contain
any offensive terms.
# ITEM 46
Title of programme –
Beachcomber By The Way – s01e03 – 1989-04-01
Sketch Comedy, starring Richard Ingrams and Patricia Routledge.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0081s34
Date of Repeat –
2021-02-24
Description of cuts (with length, starting point) –
A cut at 2:07 lasting 3 seconds. Cut is a reference to Africa! In the
following dialogue, Richard Ingrams’s line is deleted –
• Patricia Routledge: “… He is some sort of Attaché.”
• Richard Ingrams : “Yes, the African sort by the sound of it.”
Last uncut repeat : 2019-03-12
Reason for cut –
BBC bias, i.e. political correctness. The cut dialogue does NOT contain
any offensive terms.
This ranks as the most pathetic cut so far encountered. One character
in a sketch mentions the word “African”, and the line is cut!
# ITEM 47
Title of programme –
Beachcomber By The Way – s03e02 – 1994-11-16
Sketch Comedy, starring Richard Ingrams and Patricia Routledge.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b008p7w7
Date of Repeat –
Should have aired on 2020-06-04 in the latest repeat of the series.
Description of cuts (with length, starting point) –
Episode banned. Last repeat: 2016-03-24
Reason for banning –
BBC bias, i.e. political correctness, as the programme does NOT contain
any offensive terms.
It includes a line about an Indian who owns an elephant (20 seconds),
but nothing else which could possibly be deemed politically incorrect.
# ITEM 48
Title of programme –
One Foot in the Grave – 3 – In Luton Airport No One Can Hear You Scream
Situation Comedy, starring Richard Wilson and Annette Crosbie.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007jn39
Date of Repeat –
2022-04-26
Description of cuts (with length, starting point) –
A cut at 11:07 lasting 5 seconds. When Nick Swainey (Owen Brenman) knocks
at the door and explains which charity he represents, this line was cut:
• Nick Swainey: “Outward Bound for the Elderly…” (Audience laughter)
Note: The previous repeat, on 2020-02-26, has an identical cut.
Last uncut repeat : 2017-10-24
Reason for cut –
Incomprehensible. A completely meaningless cut to an inoffensive line.
BBC bias, i.e. political correctness. The cut dialogue does NOT contain
any offensive terms.
# ITEM 49
Title of programme –
The Skivers – s02e04 1995-02-23 – Guest Jon Pertwee
Sketch Comedy, written and performed by Nick Golson and Tim De Jongh
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00805wv
Date of Repeat –
2018-08-18
Description of cuts (with length, starting point) –
A cut at 16:48 lasting 8 seconds. This line was cut :
• “It’s Kevin Kostner in a multi-million pound remake of Rolf Harris’s
Public Information film about swimming.” (Audience laughter)
Last uncut repeat : 2013-08-01
Reason for cut –
Rolf has been declared a “non-person” by the BBC’s thought police
(since June 2014).
# ITEM 50
Title of programme –
Crowned Hudds – Episode 3 – 1995-08-15 – Fourth Wedding and Some Funerals
Historical sitcom about the English monarchy, starring Roy Hudd.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00psrfz
Date of Repeat –
2021-02-09
Description of cuts (with length, starting point) –
A cut at 2:21 lasting 25 seconds.
Removes reference to Australian comic Rolf Harris, even though he isn’t
mentioned by name. These lines were cut, where Roy addresses Henry VIII:
• Roy Hudd : “Perhaps if you gazed upon a likeness of your future bride?
Master Holbein, the portrait!”
• Jon Glover: (Impersonates Rolf) “Heh, heh, heh. Little bit of red here,
little bit of blue.” (Chuckles) (Audience laughter) “Just
a splash. Can you see what it is yet?” (Audience laughter)
• Roy Hudd : “Excellent work, Master Holbein. A most consummate and
lifelike representation. Especially the way you got the
staple right through her navel — lovely.”
Last uncut repeat : 2012-02-23
Reason for cut –
Rolf Harris has been declared a “non-person” by the BBC’s thought police
(since June 2014).
# ITEM 51
Title of programme –
Crowned Hudds – Episode 4 – 1995-08-22 : “VR In Charge” / “VR Not Amused”
Historical sitcom about the English monarchy, starring Roy Hudd.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00pyrl1
Date of Repeat –
Should have aired on 2021-02-16 in the latest repeat of the series.
Description of cuts (with length, starting point) –
Episode banned. Last repeat: 2016-06-10
Reason for banning –
BBC bias, i.e. political correctness, as the programme does NOT contain
any offensive terms.
The episode is part of a historical sitcom; this edition spoofs
Queen Victoria. No obvious reason for banning it.
The title, “VR in Charge”, is a joke: it means “Victoria Regina in
Charge”. “VR” is meant to sound like someone with a German accent
(Prince Albert?) saying ‘we are’ (in charge). But I doubt that jokes
about Victoria and Albert being German would draw complaints.
Perhaps because the Queen’s prime minister, Disraeli, has a Jewish
(i.e. “foreign”) accent. Seems merely having a foreign accent is
enough to get a broadcast banned by the BBC’s thought police.
# ITEM 52
Title of programme –
Crowned Hudds – Episode 5 – 1995-08-29 – A Comedy of Arrows
Historical sitcom about the English monarchy, starring Roy Hudd.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00q9pdm
Note: Episode title is a (weak) pun on the title of Shakespeare’s play,
‘A Comedy of Errors’.
Date of Repeat –
Should have aired on 2021-02-23 in the latest repeat of the series.
Description of cuts (with length, starting point) –
Episode banned. Last repeat: 2016-06-17
Reason for banning –
BBC bias, i.e. political correctness, as the programme does NOT contain
any offensive terms.
The episode is part of a historical sitcom; this edition spoofs
Robin Hood (King John is ambushed). No obvious reason for banning it.
Perhaps because some of Roy Hudd’s “Merry Men” are a bit effeminate?
(Might be an attempt to spoof the 1993 movie Robin Hood: Men in Tights)
# ITEM 53
Title of programme –
The Newly Discovered Casebook of Sherlock Holmes
Episode 2 – 1999-01-23 – The Mystery of the Obese Escapologist
Situation Comedy, starring Roy Hudd.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00b2gpj
Date of Repeats –
2019-06-12, 2017-01-11
Description of cuts (with length, starting point) –
A cut at 11:30 lasting 12 seconds.
A reference to Australian comedian and singer Rolf Harris is cut.
These lines were removed:
• Roy Hudd: “Watson, bring the artificial limb with you.”
• Chris Emmet: “Why me? I shall feel most conspicuous carrying such
an item.”
• Roy Hudd: “Then shove it down the front of your coat, and if anyone
asks say you’re Rolf Harris. Right? (Audience laughter)
Whoever HE might be!”
Note: The joke was a reference to Rolf’s comic song, ‘I’m Jake the Peg,
with my extra leg’, about a man with a wooden leg.
Last uncut repeat : 2011-12-09
Reason for Rolf Harris cut –
Rolf has been declared a “non-person” by the BBC’s thought police
(since June 2014).
# ITEM 54
Title of programme –
The Newly Discovered Casebook of Sherlock Holmes
Episode 3 – 1999-01-30 – The Case of the Deranged Botanist
Situation Comedy, starring Roy Hudd.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00b5pg3
Date of Repeat –
2019-06-19
Description of cuts (with length, starting point) –
A cut at 22:20 lasting 20 seconds.
The cut makes no sense, and is not even a joke. June Whitfield, as
proprietor of an opium den, is asking Roy Hudd to pay for admission.
These five lines are cut:
• Roy Hudd: “Never stop thinking about it!”
• June Whitfield: “No, plonka.”
• Roy Hudd: “Plonka???”
• June Whitfield: “You have moola, bunce, cash?”
• Roy Hudd: “Look, Mrs Woman, could we come in please,
it’s bloody freezing out here.”
Last uncut repeat : 2017-01-18
Reason for cut –
BBC bias, as the cut dialogue does NOT contain any offensive terms.
# ITEM 55
Title of programme –
Like They’ve Never Been Gone – s04e01 – 2002-06-19
Situation Comedy, starring Roy Hudd.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00cfzqy
Date of Repeat –
2021-02-23
Description of cuts (with length, starting point) –
A cut at 12:51 lasting 3 seconds. A joke about Prince Philip:
• Roy Hudd: “Blimey! Agents, eh? Who else gets so much of our money
for sitting on their backsides being rude to people!”
• Pat Coombs: “Prince Philip?” «— This line was cut
Last uncut repeat : 2019-02-13
Reason for cut –
BBC hypocrisy: suddenly becoming sycophantic, after years of being rude
about him.
This repeat aired while Prince Philip was alive (he died 9th April 2021).
The cut might have been understandable if the repeat aired after he died,
but it didn’t.
# ITEM 56
Title of programme –
D.I. Cromwell: Jagged Prayer
Episode 3 – 2000-03-31 – Sister, Brother
Situation Comedy, starring Timothy Spall. Spoof detective series.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00c3k87
Date of Repeat –
Should have aired on 2020-10-01 during the latest repeat of the series.
Description of cuts (with length, starting point) –
Episode banned. Last repeat: 2016-04-21
Reason for banning –
BBC bias, i.e. political correctness, as the programme does NOT contain
any offensive terms.
Possibly because the episode (entitled “Sister, Brother”) contains jokes
about transvestites and gender-benders, as part of the detective’s
investigation. (But this is a comedy: the script sends-up the police,
the suspects — everybody!)
# ITEM 57
Title of programme –
That Reminds Me – s02e04 2000-10-17 – Clement Freud
The raconteur Sir Clement Freud MP talks about his life and career.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0026wfg
Date of Repeat –
Should have aired on 2017-10-03 during the latest repeat of the series.
Description of cuts (with length, starting point) –
Episode banned. Last repeat: 2015-11-03
Reason for banning –
The late Sir Clement Freud, Member of Parliament for the Isle of Ely,
has been declared a “non-person” by the BBC’s thought police (since
June 2016), despite never being convicted of any offence.
# ITEM 58
Title of programme –
How Tickled Am I – s03e02 2001-11-27 – Gracie Fields
Documentary about 1930s British music-hall star Gracie Fields,
presented by Mark Radcliffe.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007jt19
Date of Repeat –
2022-06-22
Description of cuts (with length, starting point) –
A cut at 17:46 lasting 56 seconds.
An interview with the local MP, Sir Cyril Smith, is removed from a
discussion of Gracie’s fans in her home town of Rochdale :
• Mark Radcliffe: “… None more so than the town’s former MP. And if
Gracie Fields is the first name that comes to mind
when you think of Rochdale, then the second is
Cyril Smith.”
• Cyril Smith: “Gracie, of course, was a brilliant performer. I mean,
her sole props were her scarf. Just a silk scarf. And
she could manipulate this scarf to give different
appearances. She was brilliant as a comic singer, if
you like — you know, ‘The Biggest Aspidistra in the
World’, ‘The Rochdale Hunt’, and so on. She never
forgot where she came from. She could have an audience
in stitches of laughter; she could have an audience in
tears. And the range was so wide; range, I mean, in
terms of her appeal, and in terms of getting over a
message. She just had the audience literally in the
palm of her hand.”
Last uncut repeat : 2018-11-21
The duration of the complete recording is 27:27
Reason for cut –
The late Sir Cyril Smith, Member of Parliament for Rochdale, has been
declared a “non-person” by the BBC’s thought police (since November 2012),
despite never being convicted of any offence.
# ITEM 59
Title of programme –
Absolute Power – s04e02 – 2004-02-12
Situation Comedy, starring Stephen Fry and John Bird
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b018tsh9
Date of Repeats –
2018-12-05 and 2021-08-19
Description of cuts (with length, starting point) –
A cut at 25:32 lasting 3 seconds.
One character tried to show he was not drunk, by reciting the complicated
lyrics to a song popularised by comedian Rolf Harris. This line was cut:
• Stephen Fry: “So either you’re Rolf Harris or you’re legless.”
Last uncut repeat : 2012-01-04
Reason for Rolf Harris cut –
Rolf has been declared a “non-person” by the BBC’s thought police
(since June 2014).
For an earlier revision of this list, see –
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT
REQUEST TYPE A –
This is a request for information, made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
On 2020-10-04, BBC Radio 4 Extra broadcast this radio programme:
Much Binding in the Marsh – s04e07 – 1950-05-03
Sketch Comedy, starring Kenneth Horne, Richard Murdoch, Sam Costa.
This broadcast was a repeat, transmitted from a recording in the BBC’s archives, of a programme which originally aired on BBC radio on 3 May 1950. The BBC’s digital identifier for this radio programme is:
PID: b015f9b7
This repeat was not a re-broadcast of the programme as originally aired, but contained censor cuts. I request the following information relating to this censored repeat.
Freedom of Information request: Radio programme CENSORED
1. By how much was the programme shortened when it was repeated on this occasion, compared to its original duration when broadcast on the original air date?
Note: Please ignore the duration of any playout music following after the closing credits. I’m not seeking information about playout music.
2. What dialogue or other content has been removed from this programme since it was broadcast on its original air date, hence was excluded from this repeat?
3. For what reason is that content allegedly unsuitable for broadcasting?
4a. Has this programme previously been repeated, containing the allegedly unsuitable material, and if so on how many occasions, and when was the most recent such repeat?
4b. Information published on the BBC website (iPlayer) suggests an uncut repeat might have aired as recently as 2019-02-10. As the channel’s Controller was satisfied so recently that cutting this content is unnecessary, what is the justification for doing so?
5. Which named BBC official is responsible for taking the decision to cut that content from the most recent repeat?
REQUEST TYPE B –
This is a request for information, made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, concerning this radio programme:
The TV Lark – Episode 8 – The Potarneyland Election
Situation Comedy, starring Leslie Phillips, Jon Pertwee, Ronnie Barker
BBC Radio 4 Extra recently repeated the radio series of which this programme is part, but omitted this programme. The date on which the programme would have aired, had the series been repeated in full, is:
21 February 2021
This programme is a recording, held in the BBC’s archives, of a programme which originally aired on BBC radio on 15 March 1963. The BBC’s digital identifier for this radio programme is:
PID: b01cwsl7
This programme was not re-broadcast on the above occasion, with or without cuts, but instead was banned outright. I request the following information relating to the banning of this programme.
Freedom of Information request: Radio programme BANNED
1. For what reason was the broadcasting of this radio programme banned, when the series of which it is part was repeated in February of 2021?
2. What dialogue or other content in this programme led to the decision to ban the programme?
3. For what reason is that content allegedly unsuitable for broadcasting?
4a. Has this programme previously been repeated, containing the allegedly unsuitable material, and if so on how many occasions, and when was the most recent such repeat?
4b. Information published on the BBC website (iPlayer) suggests a repeat might have aired as recently as 12 April 2013. As the channel’s Controller was satisfied so recently that banning this episode is unnecessary, what is the justification for doing so?
5. Which named BBC official is responsible for taking the decision to ban the broadcasting of this programme during the latest repeat of this series?
LETTER TO THE INFORMATION COMMISSIONER
In your letter refusing my Freedom of Information request, you rely on the court decision in the case of Sugar (Deceased) v British Broadcasting Corporation and another, decided on appeal, reported in 2012.
The information I am seeking under the Freedom of Information Act does not fall within that decision, which was concerned only with a report relating to the BBC’s editorial policy on a news story (the Arab-Israeli conflict in Palestine), hence concerned journalism.
However, I am asking for information which the BBC does not hold for any purpose connected with journalism.
I have requested information about the BBC’s censorship of its radio archive, which is nothing to do with its News or Current Affairs activities. There is no relationship between the information I have requested and the BBC’s journalism: I am not seeking information about a current or former News or Current Affairs story, nor am I asking for information which was prepared for any journalistic or news reporting purpose.
The information I seek is administrative, relating to the BBC itself, not to its reporting of news or events. And the radio programme specified in my request is an entertainment programme, a radio comedy show, not a news or current affairs programme. It is not even a satirical programme about the news or current affairs.
As it was broadcast some years ago, there is no possible sense in which it could relate to news or current affairs, hence journalism, since its original broadcast pre-dates all events currently in the news. The BBC has in effect admitted this, in archiving the tape.
Neither does it have a bearing on literature. It is not a written item, not even something printed in a BBC printed publication such as the ‘Radio Times’. It is a tape of a 30 minute radio broadcast, aired originally some years ago. There is no connection with literature, taking that to mean writing: it’s a spoken word broadcast, not a book or magazine, not a document of any kind. Moreover, the BBC does not publish literature, it is a broadcaster.
In the widest possible interpretation of the term ‘literature’, that term might possibly refer to anything which is written down, although I would say that literature in this sense means fiction, not merely – for example – a memo from one BBC official to another.
Even if literature was considered to mean literally anything that is written, regardless of its literary status – which seems to me to be an interpretation not supported by the Act – I am not asking about something which is written, but about a taped broadcast originating in sound radio. It’s a spoken, not a written, item.
Neither does it have any bearing on art. A radio comedy may be entertaining, but it cannot properly be described as a work of art.
If there is any art involved, which I would not accept, it would relate to the creation of the radio programme in question; but I am not seeking information about the creative process of inventing a radio comedy: the programme specified in my request was broadcast some years ago, and the creative process occured then. It is not occuring now, because the original broadcast has already happened, some years ago. If there was art involved, which I don’t accept, it only related to the creation of the programme, not to (say) its transmission or storage – these are technical or administrative functions, not artistic ones.
The people involved in the broadcast in question no longer work for the BBC. I don’t believe anyone who did have involvement in the creative process is actually alive today. Nor do I believe anything about the creative process can now be ascertained, except possibly from the tape itself. And, accordingly, I have not asked for information about the creative process.
The court decision talks about matters of “literary or artistic expression“, which confirms that the terms ‘literature’ or ‘art’ in the Act can relate only to the creative process of making the programme. Therefore subsequent activity, of a purely technical or administrative nature, such as broadcasting or re-broadcasting it, which is not a part of the creative process, cannot amount to a matter of ‘literary or artistic expression’.
The tape in the BBC’s archives is a record of the outcome of that creative process. But if there was any art involved, it concerned only the creation of that tape, or rather the creation of whatever programme content is stored on it.
Hence, in the circumstances, there is no art involved: if any was involved, it was involved many years ago. The tape is not a part of a current radio production, it does not relate to the operations of a current production department of the BBC. The censorship is occuring now, but no artistic decisions are occuring now, so the censorship cannot be said to relate to ‘art’ (taken even in the widest possible sense).
I am seeking information about the censorship of that tape, many years after the original broadcast. This is not a matter which relates to art. Censorship might possibly amount to a suppression of art, but I am not aware of any authority for the proposition that censorship is an art in itself.
It certainly is not a form of ‘artistic expression’. There could, for instance, be no art involved in banning an entire tape from being re-broadcast. There is no selection of material, for example, where there is merely a blanket ban slapped on everything in a recording: merely a blanket disregard for the merits of the case.
Whether or not there is a blanket ban, where the censorship proceeds from a political motivation, to suppress some aspect of a recording because some BBC official dislikes it, that may amount to political bias, in breach of the BBC’s Charter, and may therefore be unlawful. For example, if the BBC intended by its censorship to promote the so-called ‘cancel culture’.
If censorship proceeded from an artistic intent, because of some artistic objective, I can see how it might be suggested that an issue of artistic expression might arise; but where the motivation is political, self evidently the censorship is not proceeding from an artistic motivation, but purely from a political one. No question of ‘art’ therefore arises.
An act of censorship which proceeded from an unlawful motive, as an expression of political bias, could not be proceeding from an artistic motive. Again, therefore, there could not be any ‘artistic expression’ involved.
The tape has been repeatedly re-broadcast in recent years, without any cuts for censorship: the date of the latest such repeat broadcast is specified in my request for information. This in itself amounts to an admission by the BBC that there are no artistic grounds for such cuts, for if there were they would not have re-broadcast it, uncut, half a dozen times in recent years. That is an admission that there is no issue of artistic expression involved. Hence the censorship proceeds from a purely political motive.
Alternatively, because the tape was not being used by the BBC for any purpose except (if at all) for the administrative function of filling up air time, an aspect of resource allocation, it is not being used for an artistic purpose, only for an administrative one.
I have taken the liberty of referring to the recording as “the tape”, which was probably correct originally. Possibly the programme is now stored in some other format. However, I was uncertain what else to call it.
For these reasons, I maintain that the information specified in my request falls within the scope of the Freedom of Information Act.
I am therefore asking you to find that at the date of its receipt of my request, the BBC held the information requested solely for purposes other than those of journalism, literature or art. And accordingly, to direct the BBC to provide the information specified in my request, which merely seeks to establish what censorship has occured and who is responsible for it.
If you decide not to give such a direction, would you please be kind enough to give the reasons for your decision, so that in the course of obtaining legal advice I may obtain also advice on your reasons, before deciding how to proceed further.
Old Radio comedy 