// BBC ENTERTAINMENT & ARTS — MODA & SOCIETÀ
BBC removes Mitchell and Webb comedy sketches from iPlayer
The BBC has removed nearly a dozen comedy sketches from That Mitchell and Webb Look after deciding they no longer "work today".
The Bafta-winning comedy, starring David Mitchell and Robert Webb, originally ran for four seasons between 2006 and 2010.
The show recently returned to the BBC's iPlayer to mark its 20th anniversary. But 11 old sketches, including one that reportedly showed the comedy duo satirising racism while in blackface, have now been cut.
A BBC spokesman said in a statement: "This is a 20-year-old sketch show; in consultation with the programme makers, we have included the ones that still work today and not the ones that don't."
The Times reported, external the removed material included scenes featuring war re-enactors in blackface, a sketch about a contestant on a makeover show wearing a burka and a "tribe" living in a garden centre. Others are said to include a joke about Jimmy Savile and an impersonation of the late celebrity chef Gary Rhodes making homophobic remarks.
BBC news has asked Mitchell and Webb - who rose to prominence on the Channel 4 sitcom Peep Show - for a comment.
That Mitchell and Webb Look grew out of a similar radio show titled That Mitchell and Webb Sound, which began on Radio 4 in 2003, and went on to win the Bafta for best comedy programme in 2007.
Defending the double act, fellow comedian Dom Joly, of Trigger Happy TV, questioned the BBC's "censorship" of itself.
Joly told The Times: "I totally get it if the BBC is putting out something really racist, which is laughing at and encouraging other people to feel that it's OK to do that.
"But it's so clear that Mitchell and Webb are not doing that. Their intent was not to be racist."