BBC parks a "Fawlty Towers" episode...

[Bob Jersey]

"The Germans," from 1975, is temporarily off the UKTV service. From an Aypee piece:

"In the episode, hotel owner Basil Fawlty is seen rocking back when a black man approaches him in the hospital where his wife Sybil is readying for an operation on an in-growing toenail, only to find out that he’s the doctor.

Fawlty... is also seen goose-stepping around while shouting `don’t mention the war` in front of a group of visiting Germans after a bout of concussion.

But what’s causing particular offense, is a scene involving one of the hotel’s long-time guests, an elderly major, who uses deeply offensive language about the West Indies and India cricket teams."

https://apnews.com/1bb71fee8fcdc551af3da67e483d7df4 (link)

B

[Joe Hass]

This is literally on par with saying "We're never showing Blazing Saddles again because they say the n-word".

I know there's a stronger word than "stupid", but this has pissed me off so much I can't think of it.

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[Bob Jersey]

Joe Hass, to moi, today (6/12):

This is literally on par with saying "We're never showing Blazing Saddles again because they say the n-word".

I know there's a stronger word than "stupid", but this has pissed me off so much I can't think of it.

That, and Cleese already used that.

https://variety.com/2020/tv/global/john-cleese-fawlty-towers-uktv-1234632743/ (link)

B

 

[Adam Bowie]

I think it gets a bit more complicated than has been portrayed. The original reports suggested that it was about Basil saying, "Don't mention the war!" to some German guests at his hotel. This episode has become so famous in British culture for this scene that it trumps everything else. The major does use offensive racist language that today simply wouldn't be allowed to be broadcast pre-watershed (pre-9pm) in the UK. And that episode, which is in pretty solid rotation on channels like Gold in the UK, is regularly edited to remove that language. So this is nothing really new.

I do think that leaving it in situ on streaming platforms seems more sensible. But language does change, as does our reactions to what that language conveys. We've also seen a number of other comedies like Little Britain (something I've never liked) and Bo' Selecta being withdrawn from iPlayer, Netflix and All4 since characters appear in blackface. Last night on Newsnight, a talkshow presenter who was mimicked on Bo' Selecta by the white impressionist Leigh Francis, explained how her kids were bullied at school over the portrayal. Both of those series aired in the early 2000s. Not exactly an age ago.

Sadly, I'm not sure that Cleese would be my go-to for the last word on this sort of thing today.

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[Joe Hass]

Before I begin to try to unpack this, I will note that, just like with HBO Max and "GWTW" (and I will caveat that I am very much behind on that thread, so if this was raised there, apologies), the fundamental point of the stories, the actual press release, is repeatedly quoted without being ever linked to or printed in its entirety in stories about it. This continues to infuriate me from a journalistic perspective. The web is not a piece of paper: you have as many pixels as you need to republish the item in question. If organizations (WarnerMedia and the BBC) refuse to publicly release the statement (my quick look couldn't find either), then I expect journalists and outlets writing about the item to share it.

(Adam, please keep me honest here.)

Since no one from the BBC will actually identify the specific problematic item(s) beyond "racial slurs", let's assume, as Adam says, that it's not about the variations on the "Don't mention the war" jokes (since the third act becomes unwatchable without them) and instead refers to the Major's conversation with Basil about halfway through act one. In the middle of telling a story about a woman, he diverges into a back-and-forth between them. It's a 19-second clip. You could excise it easily enough and have no clue it wasn't there unless you knew about it. And it sounds as though John Cleese (through his management company) approved of a version that removed this clip in 2013. To take a blind stab at this: I'm guessing that people guessed it was the "don't mention the war" jokes because Cleese had previously blessed removing the clearly-offensive-then-and-now jokes.

It appears that Gold has two parts to it: the channel and the on-demand library. On the channel, it sounds to me like both versions of the episode aired, with the version depending on the time of day. It reads as though the unedited version was in the on-demand library, and that was removed.

To keep to the item at hand: this *still* seems absolutely stupid. How hard would it be to just replace the unedited version with the authorized edited one and put an intertitle of "This episode has been slightly edited for content." at the start? To pull the entire episode in a knee jerk reaction is the Clear Channel memorandum all over again.

This is easily solvable to me by asking Cleese to confirm in 2013 he approved removing the jokes. If he did, then the BBC are morons. If he didn't, then ask him if it's okay now. If he says yes, then put it back; if they won't, then the BBC are morons. If he says no, then Cleese is the moron.

Idiots keep pissing me off. One of these days I'll start to get over it. Today ain't it.

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[Kevin M.]

On Fri, Jun 12, 2020 at 1:44 PM Joe Hass <hassg...@gmail.com> wrote:

Before I begin to try to unpack this, I will note that, just like with HBO Max and "GWTW" (and I will caveat that I am very much behind on that thread, so if this was raised there, apologies), the fundamental point of the stories, the actual press release, is repeatedly quoted without being ever linked to or printed in its entirety in stories about it. This continues to infuriate me from a journalistic perspective. The web is not a piece of paper: you have as many pixels as you need to republish the item in question. If organizations (WarnerMedia and the BBC) refuse to publicly release the statement (my quick look couldn't find either), then I expect journalists and outlets writing about the item to share it.

(Adam, please keep me honest here.)

Since no one from the BBC will actually identify the specific problematic item(s) beyond "racial slurs", let's assume, as Adam says, that it's not about the variations on the "Don't mention the war" jokes (since the third act becomes unwatchable without them) and instead refers to the Major's conversation with Basil about halfway through act one. In the middle of telling a story about a woman, he diverges into a back-and-forth between them. It's a 19-second clip. You could excise it easily enough and have no clue it wasn't there unless you knew about it. And it sounds as though John Cleese (through his management company) approved of a version that removed this clip in 2013. To take a blind stab at this: I'm guessing that people guessed it was the "don't mention the war" jokes because Cleese had previously blessed removing the clearly-offensive-then-and-now jokes.

It appears that Gold has two parts to it: the channel and the on-demand library. On the channel, it sounds to me like both versions of the episode aired, with the version depending on the time of day. It reads as though the unedited version was in the on-demand library, and that was removed.

To keep to the item at hand: this *still* seems absolutely stupid. How hard would it be to just replace the unedited version with the authorized edited one and put an intertitle of "This episode has been slightly edited for content." at the start? To pull the entire episode in a knee jerk reaction is the Clear Channel memorandum all over again.

This is easily solvable to me by asking Cleese to confirm in 2013 he approved removing the jokes. If he did, then the BBC are morons. If he didn't, then ask him if it's okay now. If he says yes, then put it back; if they won't, then the BBC are morons. If he says no, then Cleese is the moron.

Idiots keep pissing me off. One of these days I'll start to get over it. Today ain't it.

You picked the wrong year to allow idiots to piss you off 

On Fri, Jun 12, 2020 at 10:35 AM Adam Bowie <ad...@adambowie.co.uk> wrote:

I think it gets a bit more complicated than has been portrayed. The original reports suggested that it was about Basil saying, "Don't mention the war!" to some German guests at his hotel. This episode has become so famous in British culture for this scene that it trumps everything else. The major does use offensive racist language that today simply wouldn't be allowed to be broadcast pre-watershed (pre-9pm) in the UK. And that episode, which is in pretty solid rotation on channels like Gold in the UK, is regularly edited to remove that language. So this is nothing really new.

I do think that leaving it in situ on streaming platforms seems more sensible. But language does change, as does our reactions to what that language conveys. We've also seen a number of other comedies like Little Britain (something I've never liked) and Bo' Selecta being withdrawn from iPlayer, Netflix and All4 since characters appear in blackface. Last night on Newsnight, a talkshow presenter who was mimicked on Bo' Selecta by the white impressionist Leigh Francis, explained how her kids were bullied at school over the portrayal. Both of those series aired in the early 2000s. Not exactly an age ago.

Sadly, I'm not sure that Cleese would be my go-to for the last word on this sort of thing today.

On Fri, Jun 12, 2020 at 3:28 PM 'Bob Jersey' via TVorNotTV <tvor...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Joe Hass, to moi, today (6/12):

This is literally on par with saying "We're never showing Blazing Saddles again because they say the n-word".

I know there's a stronger word than "stupid", but this has pissed me off so much I can't think of it.

That, and Cleese already used that.

https://variety.com/2020/tv/global/john-cleese-fawlty-towers-uktv-1234632743/ (link)

B

 

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Kevin M. (RPCV)

[Joe Hass]

On Fri, Jun 12, 2020 at 3:48 PM Kevin M. <drunkba...@gmail.com> wrote: "You picked the wrong year to allow idiots to piss you off"

Sadly, my reaction to behavior like this existed long before the start of this year, and it shows no sign of abatement.

[Kevin M.]

Semi related, Cleese posted this clip on Twitter today

https://twitter.com/johncleese/status/1271535485467283457?s=21

On Fri, Jun 12, 2020 at 2:39 PM Joe Hass <hassg...@gmail.com> wrote:

On Fri, Jun 12, 2020 at 3:48 PM Kevin M. <drunkba...@gmail.com> wrote: "You picked the wrong year to allow idiots to piss you off"

Sadly, my reaction to behavior like this existed long before the start of this year, and it shows no sign of abatement.

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Kevin M. (RPCV)

[Adam Bowie]

This is another example of a story being blown out of all proportion because those are the times we live in. Funnily enough, if go back to a Daily Mail (I know) article from 2013, it seems like the same story all over. "Don't mention the ***" - https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2266738/Censorship-row-BBC-cuts-racist-lines-classic-Fawlty-Towers-episode.html.

The first report, in The Guardian, did mention the racial slurs but of course highlighted it as the "Don't mention the war" episode, which many jumped to assume was the problematic bit - Basil doing goose-steps in the dining room. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/jun/11/fawlty-towers-dont-mention-the-war-episode-removed-from-uktv

Of course, even then it was not that line or that part of the episode that was being edited. The story referenced a Sunday evening screening on BBC Two which had the racist language removed. This is nothing new. Lots of sitcoms and dramas get edited all the time - sometimes for language so they can be screened earlier (the UK has rules about language and time of day). There's a website I keep an eye on where someone obsessively looks for edits and changes in versions. It happens a lot. And Cleese approved those changes.

The DVD is, AFAIK, unedited. And I noticed the Google Play Store here in the UK promoting the full series digitally for £5.99. So for the purposes of research for this group - I bought it. I can report, no warning in the digital episode, and the Major's language has not been edited - and even gets a laugh. That said, as Cleese says, the episode is making fun of the characters' intolerances. It's still jarring in 2020 however. I suspect that these edits date back well before 2013, because the n-word 

It's clear that there are two versions in circulation, and with both versions being broadcast on UKTV channels depending on time of day, while the unedtied versions have been supplied to streaming services. 

As I write, UKTV (which is owned by the BBC) has confirmed that it's going back on their platform with a warning about "offensive language and content." https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-53032895

All a bit of a mountain out of a molehill.

Now if you really want to get into TV history that has been quietly swept away, try to watch old episodes of Till Death Us Do Part (the inspiration for All In The Family). Alf Garnett (ie the Archie Bunker character) used a lot of racially charged language as part of his character. And of course the joke was always on him. But it's been a long time since I've seen episodes of that pop up anywhere. All the surviving episodes are, however, available on DVD.

Adam

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[Bob Jersey]

Adam Bowie, to moi, in part, Friday (6/12):

We've also seen a number of other comedies like Little Britain (something I've never liked) and Bo' Selecta being withdrawn from iPlayer, Netflix and All4 since characters appear in blackface.

 

"Little Britain" creators Matt Lucas and David Walliams issued nearly-identical apologies... https://tvline.com/2020/06/13/little-britain-creators-apologize-blackface-netflix-removal/ (link)

B

[Mark Jeffries]

Two episodes out of six of the "Little Britain USA" series that aired on HBO in 2008 are still up on HBO's VOD and presumably on HBO Max and whatever the other streamer is called.  Whether the remaining episodes (2 and 5) don't have any of the blackface characters, I don't know.

I do know that the series that Australian Chris Lilley did for HBO (with the Australian pubcaster the ABC) that featured characters in blackface are off of HBO's VOD, as Netflix has taken them off in other countries.  The one exception, "We Can Be Heroes:  The Search for the Australian of the Year," Lilley's first series, was seen in the U.S. under the title "The Nominees" on SundanceTV when it was the commercial-free Sundance Channel co-owned by Viacom and NBC with Robert Redford.  The Lilley series are "Summer Heights High," "Angry Boys," "Ja'mie: Private School Girl" and "Jonah from Tonga" (there's your blackface right there--the character originated in "Summer Heights High" and Maori Television in New Zealand aired the first episode and said that they could not bring themselves to air the rest of the series).

Mark Jeffries
Saints Spotlight Editor
spotl...@gmail.com

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