Little Britain removed from streaming services

[BlodwynPig]

and this

[Icehaven]

Remember all the Little Britain merchandise? I remember it being everywhere. Or am I just imagining it? It was stuff like Vicky Pollard dolls, Lou and Andy toys in Woolworths.

Yep that's a whole other 'wouldn't happen now' thing, how so much of the merchandise was aimed at kids because they liked the silly cartoonishness of the characters. Well I say that but then a lot of Family Guy merch is still aimed at kids too so fuck knows.

[thecuriousorange]

Rory Bremner's Ainsley hasn't aged well.

[Old Nehamkin]

Remember all the Little Britain merchandise? I remember it being everywhere. Or am I just imagining it? It was stuff like Vicky Pollard dolls, Lou and Andy toys in Woolworths.

There was even a video game released as late as 2007 (and surely the only example of a British comedy show being adapted in said format since the Spectrum/Amstrad era).

[Jockice]

Remember all the Little Britain merchandise? I remember it being everywhere. Or am I just imagining it? It was stuff like Vicky Pollard dolls, Lou and Andy toys in Woolworths.

It did exist. There's a small town called Silloth not far from Carlisle which was a regular place for days out when I lived there in the mid-70s.  A few years ago while visiting my sister who still lives in the Border City, we decided to go and visit again. It was the first time I'd been there for over 35 years and when we popped into the cafe/amusement arcade I was thrilled to see if looked exactly the same. Same machines and everything. And the only new thing they had on the shelves was a Lou and Andy doll set. Several years after Little Britain had been on TV. But the really ironic thing is that I was in my wheelchair and the staff were staring at me like I'd just come from outer space. It took great restraint not to point at the dolls and go: "I want that one!''

And then I ordered fish and chips and my sis wanted fish but not chips...I think that cemented in the staff's minds that we really were weird aliens.

[bgmnts]

Yeah I know.

[Paulie Walnuts]

this next please

[shiftwork2]

this next please

Do you know how to resize images Paulie?  No, you don't.  It's very easy.  Put the image tags around as usual but choose width=5, as this shows (choose 'quote' to reveal):



Job done, and it'll make your posts much easier on the eye.

[thenoise]

It's a bit disingenuous to pretend that society's attitudes have changed since 2005 and we all thought it was a jolly good laugh back then and who even knew any black or asian people anyway back in the innocent times of 2005.

I'm pretty sure the same people were offended by it 15 years ago as now and the same people are defending it. Because it was really recent and culture has barely shifted at all especially in Great Britain. It just depends which group of people the BBC wish  to pander to right now.

I am wary of everyone relying on all their entertainment and media being 'online' for this reason, it can all be deleted at the whims of the current cultural trends, which you may not may not be in support of. At least we can cling to our old DVDs. I dont give a fuck about little britain but I enjoy the MJ episode of the Simpsons (for example).

[mippy]

The black face stuff on IASIP is usually about the black face and the attitudes of the people doing it. It isn't just for larks or to play a black character

The whole point of IASIP, for me, is that the Gang are all awful, awful people, and we are always laughing at them for this.

[BritishHobo]

I thought it had it's moments ('Probably because I'm thick' being a highlight), but there's something very odd about two grown men, especially two grown men who have made sure to explain that their jokes are never based off of mocking race, dressing up as japanese schoolgirls and singing 'ting tong ting', or blacking up and riding around talking about 'Pimp My Ride' and pussy wagons in a comedy accent. But then nobody else in my family seemed to think it was odd, so who knows.

Well, look who was on the right side of history, as usual. As for my so-called 'family', straight into the bin with them. Cancelled. No hesitation.

[up_the_hampipe]

Well, look who was on the right side of history, as usual. As for my so-called 'family', straight into the bin with them. Cancelled. No hesitation.

You thought there was something "very odd" about men dressing as women? Wow, settle down Glinner!

[idunnosomename]

There was even a video game released as late as 2007 (and surely the only example of a British comedy show being adapted in said format since the Spectrum/Amstrad era).

hahah fucking hell. i cant believe i have no recollection of this

genuinely no idea about the developers/publishers either. what WAS this? did it make money? what the FUCK

[mippy]

It's a bit disingenuous to pretend that society's attitudes have changed since 2005 and we all thought it was a jolly good laugh back then and who even knew any black or asian people anyway back in the innocent times of 2005.

I'm pretty sure the same people were offended by it 15 years ago as now and the same people are defending it. Because it was really recent and culture has barely shifted at all especially in Great Britain. It just depends which group of people the BBC wish  to pander to right now.

I am wary of everyone relying on all their entertainment and media being 'online' for this reason, it can all be deleted at the whims of the current cultural trends, which you may not may not be in support of. At least we can cling to our old DVDs. I dont give a fuck about little britain but I enjoy the MJ episode of the Simpsons (for example).

Society's attitudes towards trans people for one have changed a hell of a lot in the last fifteen years. I can entirely see why Emily Howard might be seen as an issue now - aside from whether it's the point of the sketch or not, I've seen her used in plenty of TERF memes.

Trying to remember now whether there was much of a backlash against Vicky Pollard at the time, but after austerity I can see why people wouldn't find it funny anymore.

Fifteen years is a decade and a half, it's not really 'really recent'.

[mippy]

I kind of want to play that, as much as I sort of want to try out the Thompson Twins game.

[jobotic]

Can we still  laugh at really fat women who have the audacity to have sexual appetites though?

[Twonty Gostelow]

I dont give a fuck about little britain but I enjoy the MJ episode of the Simpsons (for example).

Talking of Michael Jackson, as far as I know this still funny scene from 30 Rock hasn't caused any controversy, possibly because there was a point to it, and the blackface is shown to be wrong. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKxF6NMN94E
It probably helps to have two black actors in the scene (and Oprah guest stars in the episode), and that it's MJ who's being imitated. I dunno. I guess some people might not be happy about it.

[marquis_de_sad]

Trying to remember now whether there was much of a backlash against Vicky Pollard at the time, but after austerity I can see why people wouldn't find it funny anymore.

Owen Jones' Chavs came out in 2011, so after the heyday of Little Britain, but not long after.

[SavageHedgehog]

genuinely no idea about the developers/publishers either. what WAS this? did it make money? what the FUCK

Blast! were somewhat infamous for making bottom of the barrel bargain bin games for the later years of the PS2 using any licence they could get; Babe, Jumanji, Home Alone, Top Gun, Beverly Hills Cop. If anything Little Britain was a coup for them as it was still currentish.

[Poobum]

I think the Little Britain game somehow manages to be worse than you can imagine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQVZG90vNTg  If you dare take a gander.

[Twonty Gostelow]

Owen Jones' Chavs came out in 2011, so after the heyday of Little Britain, but not long after.

Did Jim Davidson dress up as a black man? It wouldn't surprise me, but I haven't seen that yet. Just thought he did his Chalky White voice.

[Bazooka]

I'm pretty sure the same people were offended by it 15 years ago as now and the same people are defending it. Because it was really recent and culture has barely shifted at all especially in Great Britain. It just depends which group of people the BBC wish  to pander to right now.

Just curious, not a critique, as to which countries cultures have especially shifted within 15 years? Particularly in regards to comedy and attitudes to keep it on topic.

[Noodle Lizard]

I always hated Little Britain, even when I was 13 or so, but surely there's got to be some level of BS here in their reasoning. I can think of countless other sitcoms, movies, TV shows with bits that have aged equally poorly that are still up on streaming services. For instance, The Germans episode of Fawlty Towers is considered one of the most iconic sitcom episodes ever made, but it features a long exchange where The Major casually discusses the difference between "n**gers" and "wogs" when referring to Indians, followed closely by them both talking about how women have brains like Swiss cheese. We're not meant to be "laughing with them", but it's still there and it's not as if it's outright condemned.

Then again, I don't quite buy into the semantic arguments about whether we're "laughing at or with" characters, because it more often comes down to "we like this one and not this one". It strikes me as being a bit intellectually "superior"; South Park, Always Sunny and many other popular contemporary shows have far more deliberately offensive content than Little Britain did, and something like Wonder Showzen would be seen as completely unjustifiable now, but smart and cool city people like them whereas something like Little Britain is lame and broad - for commoners. As I said, I never liked Little Britain and love some of those other shows, but I think it's unfair to single one out as being objectively worse or less acceptable than the other when it seems to be based more on what we think is "good" rather than any other standard. I see the same kind of rationalizations coming from people defending Jerry Sadowitz or Cum Town; basically "I find it funny, so therefore it must be okay somehow". No one seems able to admit that they like something that's perhaps a bit "problematic", especially when that's been their go-to for tearing down something they don't enjoy.

Obviously it's up to each streaming service what they want to have on there at the end of the day, but I always bristle at this kind of (let's face it) virtue signaling. Little Britain, for better or worse, was a ubiquitously popular cultural phenomenon in the UK only 15 years ago, and there's now an official declaration from our entertainment providers that it's "unacceptable".

[marquis_de_sad]

Did Jim Davidson dress up as a black man? It wouldn't surprise me, but I haven't seen that yet. Just thought he did his Chalky White voice.

I don't know, but I wouldn't believe anything that comes out of Johann Hari's mouth.

[thecuriousorange]

I'm surprised Woody Allen's Everything You Wanted To Know About Sex But We're Afraid To Ask still features so prominently in my Netflix suggestions.

[mippy]

You know that whole 'separate the artist from the work' thing? Yeah, reeeeeeally doesn't work with Allen.

[Egyptian Feast]

hahah fucking hell. i cant believe i have no recollection of this

genuinely no idea about the developers/publishers either. what WAS this? did it make money? what the FUCK

I used to work for a company that provided reverse cash machines AKA FOBTs to betting shops and they were briefly running a Little Britain fruit machine game that was truly hideous. I mean, all the games were truly hideous, but this was so obnoxious sounding and garishly designed I got some kind of enjoyment out of activating all the character based feature games on freeplay and just beholding the ugliness. I think they took it off after a couple of months. Imagine losing your last fiver on a Vicky Pollard minigame and getting to hear her hilarious catchphrase yet again as you get kicked out of the game.

They also briefly had a Spamalot game, which was more tastefully done and all the more depressing for it. I presume that was an Idle decision.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Pulling it before they get gulled imo.

I think it's a shite show, but the fact they're pulling the one that's held up as an example if 'how did this make its way onto a national channel in retrospect is telling'. You can argue it's still on dvd but that probably takes it out the hands of younger progressives these days. Like an aunt hiding her golliwog doll before her young relative comes round.

[idunnosomename]

Blast! were somewhat infamous for making bottom of the barrel bargain bin games for the later years of the PS2 using any licence they could get; Babe, Jumanji, Home Alone, Top Gun, Beverly Hills Cop. If anything Little Britain was a coup for them as it was still currentish.

it was always fun following terrible developers like Titus and Cryo that magazines clearly fucking hated. woe betide any cunt who bought their games.

oh whoops they're both French. which ironically, is where little britain (Brittany) is! wow.

[Sebastian Cobb]

I used to work for a company that provided reverse cash machines AKA FOBTs to betting shops and they were briefly running a Little Britain fruit machine game that was truly hideous. I mean, all the games were truly hideous, but this was so obnoxious sounding and garishly designed I got some kind of enjoyment out of activating all the character based feature games on freeplay and just beholding the ugliness. I think they took it off after a couple of months. Imagine losing your last fiver on a Vicky Pollard minigame and getting to hear her hilarious catchphrase yet again as you get kicked out of the game.

They also briefly had a Spamalot game, which was more tastefully done and all the more depressing for it. I presume that was an Idle decision.

Urgh I was working in ladbrokes when they got a new game, an Egyptian themed one that played walk like an Egyptian on a loop. 4 of those bastards thumping away out of sync like someone failing to learn to beatmach was a fucker when I was hungover. Which was most of the time if I'm honest.