Even 'right on' Ben Elton falls short of modern sensibilities

He was once the very epitome of the ‘right-on’ liberal comedian.

But times changed – and now even Ben Elton’s work has been given a content warning over its ‘racist and homophobic content’.

The anarchic 1980s comedy series has just landed on Britbox, which has  issued the alert for viewers. Less surprisingly, the  streaming service also cautions that the show contains adult humour and violence.

One content warning says: ‘Contains adult humour, violence, sex references, and racist language that may offend’; while another warns of ‘homophobic language that may offend’.

The terms are used satirically to mock out-of-date attitudes, but just using them at all may offend modern viewers, Britbox fears.

The show’s most controversial incident comes in the third episode,  Boring, includes the N-word as well as ‘coon’ and ‘sambo’ – although all are used to mock racist attitudes in the police.

All the slurs are used by a while policeman who is wearing sunglasses, so apparently believes the white man he’s verbally abusing is black. However, the scene is now usually cut when the episode is repeated on TV.

The BBC show, which Elton wrote with Lise Mayer and star Rik Mayall, brought  the alternative comedy of the early 1980s to a much wider audience.

Britbox has previously put content warnings on the likes of Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em and Are You Being Served?, too.

Published: 15 Mar 2022