The BBC has addressed its recent decision to remove controversial scenes from the sketch series That Mitchell And Webb Look on its iPlayer service.
In honour of the comedy show’s 20th anniversary, That Mitchell And Webb Look – starring the titular comedians David Mitchell and Robert Webb, alongside cast members that included Sarah Hadland and future Oscar winners Olivia Colman and Daniel Kaluuya – was made available to stream on the BBC’s iPlayer platform.
However, fans of the duo quickly spotted that around 11 scenes had been pulled from this new edition of the series, including some that included the use of blackface.
One such sketch depicted Robert and Olivia as the hosts of a makeover show, introduced to a woman in a burkha. Later, in a faux behind-the-scenes cutaway, David takes off this garment to reveal that he is in blackface.
Another showed the Peep Show stars as Civil War re-enacters, who then use blackface as part of a re-staging of a conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo, with the pair – again in a faux behind-the-scenes cutaway – debating whether or not what they’re doing is “racist”.
In a statement, the BBC said: “That Mitchell and Webb Look has been made available on BBC iPlayer.”
“This is a 20-year-old sketch show,” they continued. “In consultation with the programme makers, we have included the ones that still work today and not the ones that don’t.”
HuffPost UK has contacted representatives for David Mitchell and Robert Webb for comment.
Back in 2020, in light of the protests in support of the Black Lives Matter movement that came after the murder of George Floyd, the BBC announced it was removing sketches making use of blackface from the sketch shows Little Britain, Come Fly With Me and The Mighty Boosh.
“There’s a lot of historical programming available on BBC iPlayer, which we regularly review,” a BBC spokesperson said at the time.
