Research participants expressed surprise the controversial episode is still on iPlayer.

A controversial Little Britain sketch is “explicitly racist and outdated”, and it is surprising it is still available on BBC iPlayer, according to audience research by Ofcom.

The regulator showed people a number of clips of television as part of a study into audience expectations on potentially offensive content across linear TV and streaming services.

One sketch from Little Britain, originally broadcast in 2002 and available on iPlayer, shows David Walliams as university employee Linda Flint describing an Asian student, Kenneth Lao, over the phone to her manager.

He is described as having “yellowish skin, slight smell of soy sauce … the ching-chong China man.”

The scene is accompanied by a laugh track.

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  • ChrisMEnglish
    31·
    11 months ago

    Even at the time it looked very outdated.

    • ᴇᴍᴘᴇʀᴏʀ 帝OPMAEnglish
      21·
      11 months ago

      Yes, I was trying to get my head around the main conclusion:

      The research participants, who were questioned by polling company Ipsos, viewed the content as “explicitly racist and outdated, and felt that society had moved on”, the report said.

      As it felt very seventies (and, no, doing it ironically doesn’t help) but has society really moved on? Either from the seventies or naughties?