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 On Fri, Jun 12, 2020 at 9:44 PM Joe Hass <[email protected]> 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 > <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Germans#Production> 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 > <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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. > > On Fri, Jun 12, 2020 at 10:35 AM Adam Bowie <[email protected]> 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 < >> [email protected]> 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 >>> >>> >>> >>> -- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>> Groups "TVorNotTV" group. >>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>> an email to [email protected]. >>> To view this discussion on the web visit >>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/e9bf78d2-0a28-4624-9768-537b9abeecfco%40googlegroups.com >>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/e9bf78d2-0a28-4624-9768-537b9abeecfco%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >>> . >>> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "TVorNotTV" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> To view this discussion on the web visit >> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAD_sJGBNLavHtzo0JxLe9tULXimLDxPmeH6fxq8QTHUS-T4m-Q%40mail.gmail.com >> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAD_sJGBNLavHtzo0JxLe9tULXimLDxPmeH6fxq8QTHUS-T4m-Q%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> . >> > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "TVorNotTV" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CABru7%2Bczu6wHGv5e_3LAN_w%3DA-yGOmZuZXMptPpN7vdxnj30jQ%40mail.gmail.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CABru7%2Bczu6wHGv5e_3LAN_w%3DA-yGOmZuZXMptPpN7vdxnj30jQ%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. 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