Little Britain removes controversial David Walliams character from episodes

The show has returned to streaming platforms but the scenes deemed ‘offensive’ have been cut

Noughties TV hit Little Britain has returned to BBC iPlayer and BritBox after having been removed from Netflix and various other platforms back in June of 2020 – however it has had numerous controversial scenes removed.

The show came under heavy fire after a running series of sketches including characters in blackface were highlighted as “offensive”, with the network admitting “times have changed“.

Comedy duo David Walliams and Matt Lucas also had their follow-up project Come Fly With Me removed too, after both Walliams and Lucas played characters from outside of their own race which involved wearing make-up to darken their complexion.

Now though, Little Britain has returned to the two UK streaming platforms with Walliams’ infamous ‘Desiree DeVere’ character nowhere to be seen. The show actually returned for a one-off radio special back in 2019 on BBC Radio 4 but this is the first time the original series has been available on TV for nearly two years.

That being said, many people feel a number of other aspects of the show are inappropriate and include racially, culturally and religiously insensitive and/or offensive content. The ‘Maggie Blackamoor’ sketch (trigger warning), among others have been flagged for such reasons yet is thought to still be in the show’s new edit.

So Matt Lucas and David Walliams have cut the blackface from Little Britain to “reflect the changes in the cultural landscape” (and get it back on iPlayer) yet this has stayed in 🙄 pic.twitter.com/w9LzkuvE1c

— Anita Singh (@anitathetweeter) March 16, 2022

The pair said they were “very sorry” for the offence caused by the blackface sketches back in 2020 and the BBC insists adjustments have been made to “reflect the changes in the cultural landscape over the last 20 years since the show was first made”.

However, it would seem the broadcaster and associated streaming platforms are still very much aware of the controversial content the show still includes: