Monday 22 October 2007

Little Britain Complaints Committee

At this morning's monthly yawnfest meeting with the 12-strong Vision Editorial Policy and Viewer Monitoring Committee (VEPVMC), I was forced into a corner defending of all things a fucking 2am repeat of Little Britain from last week.

Why?

Because some ignorant, dumb-as-fuck viewer (probably from Middlesbrough) has launched a petty letter-writing crusade against the portrayal of Daffyd Thomas as "the bullying of a young defenceless homosexual man living in the provinces"

Jesus Christ! What fucking planet is this guy on??

I had to wade through 27 pages from the Viewer Logs reading every single piece of twaddle this person has made against the show:

"I think that the show is disgusting actually. The insights about physically handicapped people are funny. But the bullying of Daffyd is pretty revolting. And when it starts to talk about his boyfriend and his sexual orientation . . . I've got to say the media have been outrageous to keep going on about it. Would they have done that if it kept referring to his skin colour? No. So why is it OK to keep commenting on the guy being gay? I mean what the fuck has that got to do with anything?"

Have been forced by Fifi to draft a groveling response (Kevin never made me do this kind of shit at Channel 4.)

Dear Viewer,

As the Controller of a publicly funded and accountable broadcaster, I treat any complaints about our output very seriously indeed.

Little Britain is a phenomenally successful comedy show featuring fictitious characters that has won countless awards and brought a great deal of joy and happiness to viewers.

The portrayal of Daffyd is actually a satirical and affectionate play on sexual identity in contemporary Britain. I should also stress that Daffyd is a work of fiction. Any references to real people called "Daffyd" who happen to be gay, live in Wales and wear tight-fitting black PVC shorts are entirely coincidental.

The sharpness of the character reflects how sophisticated this country has become in terms of tolerance, to the point where David Walliams (straight) and Matt Lucas (gay) - along with the entertainment commissioning teams here at the Corporation - felt able to create a character tackling sexual tolerance in the regions.

Your valued comments have been noted and I take great pleasure in enclosing a £5 Corporation token that can be used to purchase books or DVDs from the Corporation shop. (Little Britain Series 2 is 50% off right now)

Yours sincerely

TVC
Channel Controller

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Identity Crisis?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/oct/22/news.blogging

Anonymous said...

Surely not the only gay in the Media Village?

English Dave said...

Be more like Marky Mark. Don't do apologies.

Anonymous said...

"But the judge decided some fans, whose postings were merely "abusive" or likely to be understood as jokes, should keep their anonymity.

The judge ordered that three fans whose postings might "reasonably be understood to allege greed, selfishness, untrustworthiness and dishonest behaviour", should be unmasked".

Wossat - 3 TV executives?

Anonymous said...

Can you stop repeating Little Britain on a constant loop? I've turned on BBC 3 to find the same episodes that's been on about 20 times already. Yes I have no life.

funkyjoolz said...

I mostly enjoy Little Britain as comedy brilliance.

But on ocasion I think they go too far,

On episode 4 USA Little Britain the scene with the 'disabled' guy
+ Andy in a church - the preacher refers to him as a 'mongoloid boy'
It may be a subversive reflection of how people display real prejudices. But in Britian and USA we no longer use the term mongoloid (an old label for downs syndrom')
Plus it mocks people who are physically disabled as being the same as someone who has downs syndrome. Which is insulting to both groups and their families.

The closing not was almost promoting the use of drugs by saying 'take another hit of your crack pot' Yes it may be funny but it is a bad influence on the young people especially as a closing end.

Its a shame we have to stoop soo low to encourage complaints to get higher ratings but at what expense to society?
cheers Julie

Anonymous said...

i saw 8-of-10 cats on channel 4 TV England yesterday, where a panelist stated bookies were taking bets of 12-1 that President Barack Obama would be assasinated, I thought the joke aimed at getting laughs from the audience was unacceptable, and vile. advocating murder as there are many sick people out there being given the green light to carry out murder.

I urge all your users to contact Ofcom and spread the word or blogg to file a complaint to have this phase of words taken to task and the show editors too

Please contact Ofcom direct to file your complaint