BBC defends Little Britain sketch branded "racist" in Ofcom research

The scene in question was originally broadcast in 2004 and sees university counsellor Linda Flint (played by David Walliams) describe a character as having "yellowish skin, slight smell of soy sauce" before calling him "the ching-chong China man".

In a report by polling company Ipsos for Ofcom, 115 viewers were shown the sketch, with participants viewing it as "explicitly racist and outdated" and saying they were "surprised that it was available on BBC iPlayer".

The report continued: "The clip was considered less acceptable because the participants felt it was purposely offensive in stereotyping and targeting an ethnic minority group for comedy purposes.

"Some reasoned that it was important to still show this content to reflect the beliefs of society at the time. However, there were concerns that it could normalise racist behaviours which could be repeated by young children."

However, the BBC has responded to the research by stating that the sketch is intended to "expose and ridicule" racist attitudes.

“All jokes in our output are judged on context and intent," a BBC spokesperson told RadioTimes.com.

"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Flint makes reference to the appearance or race of a series of people are intended to expose and ridicule some of the outdated prejudices and racism that still exist in parts of British society, which is more apparent when viewing the sketches within the context of a full episode, and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 statement concludes: "The programme is part of the BBC's comedy archive and information is provided for iPlayer viewers about the inclusion of discriminatory language."

When the episode is streamed on BBC iPlayer a content warning is currently shown saying that it "contains discriminatory language".

Little Britain has previously been removed from the catch-up service in 2020 in the wake of criticism regarding Walliams and Matt Lucas's use of blackface throughout the series.

That year, the comedy duo issued a public apology for having "played characters of other races" and posted about their "regret".

A modified version of the show then returned to iPlayer in 2022 after Walliams and Lucas re-edited episodes to remove characters including health retreat guest Desiree Devere, who was played by Walliams in blackface.

A BBC spokesman confirmed to RadioTimes.com at the time: "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."

Little Britain is available to stream on BBC iPlayer. Check out more of our Comedy coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on.

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