The show has been hit with controversies in recent years
Little Britain is returning to terrestrial TV for the first time in 18 years. Despite a slew of controversies and outrage over ‘dated’ and ‘offensive’ sketches, it looks like the divisive sitcom is returning to our screens.
The show broadcast its last episode in 2006 and returned for numerous specials between then and 2020. In that year, the show was pulled from both BBC iPlayer and Netflix after discussions reached boiling point over the shows blackface and depictions of other minorities.
The show was readded to iPlayer in 2022, but was never again seen on Netflix. But now, fans of the series have the chance to see it again on terrestrial TV for the first time since the show finished.
Freeview channel That’s TV has released a statement saying the show will be returning to screens on the channel.
The statement reads, per Metro: “That’s TV has announced that it will broadcast all three seasons of Little Britain as part of its festive Christmas and New Year line-up.”
The first episode will air tonight (December 16) and the show will run into 2024.
The news comes not long after an Ofcom study found a sketch from the show to be ‘offensive’ and ‘outdated’.
In October, the TV watchdog showed people a number of clips of potentially offensive content as part of a study.
One of the clips was a Little Britain sketch which featured David Walliams’ character, Linda Flint, using racist terms to describe an Asian person.
When participants were asked for their thoughts after watching the clip, the consensus was that “society had moved on”, according to the research.
The research saw 115 asked about the clip. In Ofcom’s report, the regulator said: “A few participants said they found it funny but seemed embarrassed to say this and could recognise why it would be offensive.
“This content was not considered acceptable for linear TV and many were surprised that it was available on BBC iPlayer.”
“Others thought a VoD (video on demand) platform was appropriate because it meant viewers could have the choice about whether to watch the content or not.
“However, they did not think the current rating was enough, wanting a warning about the racist language and an explanation for why it was still accessible. For some, the content was considered too problematic, even for VoD.”
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