BBC Removes 11 Mitchell, Webb Sketches
BBC Removes 11 Mitchell, Webb Sketches
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Key Points
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That Mitchell and Webb Look originally ran on BBC Two from September 2006 to August 2010 and won BAFTA awards for comedy.
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In the deleted makeover sketch, the characters explicitly debate whether they are merely “taking the piss out of people's sincerely held beliefs” before the burqa is removed to reveal blackface.
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The war-reenactment sketch ultimately acknowledges its own offensiveness: after asking whether the scenario is racist, Webb’s character concedes that it is “very, very racist.”
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Comedy producer Jimmy Mulville argued that social media has diminished nuance and warned that the decision could be “the thin end of a wedge,” adding to calls for more careful handling of older comedy.
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The BBC has previously removed Little Britain and Come Fly With Me from its platforms over blackface, brownface and racial-stereotyping concerns, placing the Mitchell and Webb edits within a broader pattern of changes to older comedy programming.
The BBC removed 11 sketches from That Mitchell and Webb Look before adding the show to iPlayer for its 20th anniversary, including scenes with blackface, a burqa-wearing makeover contestant, and characters pretending to be an indigenous tribe in a garden centre. Radio Times reported that the broadcaster decided the material "no longer works for contemporary audiences" in consultation with the programme makers. The cuts reignite a heated debate over whether older comedy should be edited, removed, or labeled with warnings when it contains offensive imagery.
The Sketches Were Built as Satire, Not Endorsement
The deleted sketches were designed to examine and criticize racism and political correctness, not celebrate them. In one makeover scene, characters explicitly debate whether they are "taking the piss out of people's sincerely held beliefs" before the burqa is removed to reveal blackface underneath. A war-reenactment sketch goes further: Webb's character admits the scenario is "very, very racist" after being asked directly if it crosses a line.
The satire was intentional and self-aware. Yet Yahoo News reported the BBC judged that audiences might not understand or accept this critical intent in 2024, prompting the removal of material that aired on BBC Two between 2006 and 2010.
Comedians Call the Decision Censorship and Overkill
UK comedian Dom Joly strongly defended David Mitchell and Robert Webb, calling the BBC's decision "classic BBC overkill" and "hysterical censorship." Oxford Mail reported that Joly argued the intent was clearly to criticize racism, not promote it. He stressed that removing content strips away important context about what the sketches were mocking.
Comedy producer Jimmy Mulville raised another concern: social media has diminished nuance in comedy. He warned that the decision could be "the thin end of a wedge," suggesting it might encourage more aggressive editing of older shows without careful thought about their actual message or artistic intent.
Part of a Broader BBC Pattern With Older Comedy
This is not the BBC's first time removing comedy over racial concerns. The corporation previously pulled Little Britain and Come Fly With Me from its platforms due to blackface, brownface, and racial-stereotyping issues. Head Topics noted that the Mitchell and Webb cuts fit within a larger pattern of the BBC reassessing how its archives represent race and identity.
The pattern raises a difficult question: Should broadcasters edit or label older comedy instead of removing it entirely? Critics worry that deletion erases history and context. Defenders argue that platforms should reflect current values. That Mitchell and Webb Look won BAFTA awards for comedy during its original run, yet now some of its most prominent material exists only in memory.
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