Streaming services around the world have given Little Britain the flick for repeated instances of blackface. Creators David Walliams and Matt Lucas have previously acknowledged that a number of the show’s most famous sketches would no longer be acceptable.

All episodes of Little Britain have been removed from the BBC iPlayer. A BBC spokesperson told the Daily Mail that “times have changed since Little Britain first aired so it is not currently available on BBC iPlayer.”

The show has also been removed from the BBC and ITV streaming subscription service BritBox. Alongside these moves, Netflix has canned Walliams and Lucas’ follow-up series, Come Fly with Me. Australian viewers have been able to find Little Britain on Stan. But the streaming service has now also confirmed the show’s removal.

Among Little Britain’s many blatantly offensive characters was Desiree DeVere, portrayed by Walliams in full blackface. Then there was Ting Tong, an overweight Thai bride played by Lucas in glaring yellowface.

The show has also faced criticism for its trans-insensitive “I’m a lady” sketches. But while the streaming shut-down could be a compound effect, it feels like a direct response to the applied pressure coming from Black Lives Matter protests round the world.

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Little Britain launched on BBC Radio 4 in the year 2000. It made its TV debut on BBC 3 in 2003 and continued for a total of three seasons, plus various charity and Christmas specials. Walliams and Lucas also made a six-part US spin-off series called Little Britain USA, which aired on HBO in 2008.

Lucas expressed his misgivings about the show in a 2017 Big Issue interview. “If I could go back and do Little Britain again, I wouldn’t make those jokes about transvestites,” he said. “I wouldn’t play black characters. Basically, I wouldn’t make that show now. It would upset people.”

Check out “Blackface and why people still don’t get it” via SBS:

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