11 That Mitchell & Webb Look sketches have been removed from the BBC’s iPlayer streaming service, after it was decided that they no longer “work today”.
The comedy show ran from 2006 to 2010 and featured Peep Show duo David Mitchell and Robert Webb performing various sketches alongside castmembers that included future Oscar winners Olivia Colman and Daniel Kaluuya. Popular sketches included Ted and Peter, a satire of snooker commentators, as well as Numberwang, a pastiche of complicated TV quiz shows.
The series recently returned to iPlayer to celebrate the show’s 20th anniversary, however 11 sketches have been excluded from the selection. A BBC spokesman said in a statement to BBC News: “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 that one of the sketches included the duo performing as war re-enactors in blackface, and a “tribe” living in a garden centre. Neither Mitchell nor Webb have publicly commented on the exclusion.
Similar measures were taken with fellow BBC sketch show Little Britain, which was removed in 2020 following complaints regarding skits that were deemed culturally insensitive. In a joint statement on X/Twitter in June 2020, creators Matt Lucas and David Walliams said: “David and I have both spoken publicly in recent years of our regret that we played characters of other races. Once again we want to make it clear that it was wrong; we are very sorry.”
In 2019, the service Britbox launched showcasing the best of UK TV shows. However certain series were excluded, including some shows that contained content that is deemed racist or unacceptable, such as Till Death Do Us Part, Love Thy Neighbour and It Ain’t Half Hot Mum.
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