The BBC,Faulty Towers and The Germans.

[Leekbrookgull]

Seen the original many times but missed last weeks re-run and did not realise what the BBC had done to the original until i heard all about it on the radio. However were they right in editing out the following scene ?http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8s4BqzHEK6o

 

[T soprano]

It's Fawlty towers

 

[vegster]

Look up " Love Thy Neighbor " on You Tube and see if that is acceptable nowdays

 

[jakarta]

It's Love Thy Neighbour

 

[bluenitsuj]

They should not have edited it. You can't do or say anything in this country anymore without some muppet complaining. Everyone should grow a pair of balls.

 

[Dan Gleeballs]

Gotta love the major. Just wouldn't happen these days

 

[Durlston]

The world's gone crazy.

I watched it last Sunday and the BBC cunningly edited it out. Allowing Basil Fawlty to call a German a kraut is hypocrisy to say the least. Do Germans living in the UK kick up a fuss? No. This from a country that has no sense of humour of course! So what's so offensive about...? Well, I watched Human Traffic recently and a black guy trying to sell an album made up a name of a gangster group called 'The Itchytriggerfingern*gg*rs' and that was shown last year on the BBC although it was late at night. Maybe Auntie was too thick to cotton on to the irony of it all.

 

[Gritt23]

I do think we react in certain ways out of habit rather than thinking through whether there really would be any harm. Did they cut this to stop people watching and thinking, "yes, he's a cool dude that Major, I want to be more like him, and if that means using such language I will." I actually think it has the opposite effect showing that it's only daft old codgers that talk in that way .... in fact, I think I thought that way back in the day when I first saw the episode.

 

[Leekbrookgull]

For me should have left it in,when you start editing in that/this manner you really are opening a can of worms. It was a matter of debate at work this week and up cropped the so called re-make of the Dambusters in the original Gibsons dog was called ****** (i was run over just hours before the raid.) If you are going to make a historical film then surely names and places have to be accurate ?

 

[Biscuit]

So they removed offensive retorts about Germans and words such as 'niggers' and 'wogs'.

Quite right too. That kind of racism shouldn't be lauded as 'comedy'.

 

[Brovion]

Look up " Love Thy Neighbor " on You Tube and see if that is acceptable nowdays

That's not the point. There's no excuse for broadcasting a bowlderised version of a programme that is a recognised classic of British television simply because it offends modern sensibilities - you may has well paint out the bare breasts of Titain's Venus of Urbino. Just broadcast it with a message saying it contains language that may offend.

On a related note I was delighted that when Channel 5 broadcast The Dambusters the 'N' word was back. (Last time I saw it it was a heavily-censored version).

 

[Brovion]

For me should have left it in,when you start editing in that/this manner you really are opening a can of worms. It was a matter of debate at work this week and up cropped the so called re-make of the Dambusters in the original Gibsons dog was called ****** (i was run over just hours before the raid.) If you are going to make a historical film then surely names and places have to be accurate ?

Not only was it the dog's name but in his memory it was the code word for the successful destruction of the dam. However I'm sure in the remake it will be called 'Nigel' in an attempt to airbrush out of history the fact that white British people ever used the word in normal conversation. We don't like to be reminded of it.

(PS - In real life the driver did actually stop. Useless bit of trivia for you).

 

[sydney]

The world's gone crazy.

I watched it last Sunday and the BBC cunningly edited it out. Allowing Basil Fawlty to call a German a kraut is hypocrisy to say the least. Do Germans living in the UK kick up a fuss? No. This from a country that has no sense of humour of course! So what's so offensive about...? Well, I watched Human Traffic recently and a black guy trying to sell an album made up a name of a gangster group called 'The Itchytriggerfingern*gg*rs' and that was shown last year on the BBC although it was late at night. Maybe Auntie was too thick to cotton on to the irony of it all.

it's alright for them ...but not for us , we have 400 years of colonialism to pay for ..................APPARENTLY.

 

[Leekbrookgull]

Not only was it the dog's name but in his memory it was the code word for the successful destruction of the dam. However I'm sure in the remake it will be called 'Nigel' in an attempt to airbrush out of history the fact that white British people ever used the word in normal conversation. We don't like to be reminded of it.

(PS - In real life the driver did actually stop. Useless bit of trivia for you).

Surely it is more sinister airbrushing history than actually reflecting life as it was at the time ? its like 1984 where history is re-written.

 

[dejavuatbtn]

Better start redoing all Dad's Army sketches 'cos those fuzzy wuzzies don't like it up 'em!

 

[Mileoakman]

Funny enough I remember watching this episode of Fawlty Towers on a German TV channel some years back. It was quite surreal in that most of it had german sub-titles except the scene in the restaurant where the german guests were talking.

Obviously didn't seem to offend our Germanic friends, but obviously todays PC brigade are much easier to upset.

World gone mad!

 

[Brovion]

Surely it is more sinister airbrushing history than actually reflecting life as it was at the time ? its like 1984 where history is re-written.

Totally agree - but if they remake it I bet you the word will go. They'll justify it by saying they had to make to 'relevant to a modern audience', which will probably also mean getting the RAF pilots to speak like the ones in Armstrong and Miller! I disagree with it, profoundly disagree with it, but I can see a certain logic, after all no one talks in medieval English in films about the Middle Ages. However it's the bowlderising/censoring of existing works to suit modern tastes that really pisses me off; either consign them to the dustbin of history (like Love Thy Neighbour) or accept them as 'of their time'.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

So they removed offensive retorts about Germans and words such as 'niggers' and 'wogs'.

Quite right too. That kind of racism shouldn't be lauded as 'comedy'.

As someone else has already pointed out, the comedy was so well written that it made the Major look like a bigoted old fool and Basil out to be a jingoistic racist. I didn't see the BBCs edited version but the whole point of the episode is lost if they cut the Major scene and Basil's scene with the Germans. Either show it in it's full version or don't show it at all.

 

[Arthur]

So they removed offensive retorts about Germans and words such as 'niggers' and 'wogs'.

Quite right too. That kind of racism shouldn't be lauded as 'comedy'.

and a poor attempt at that!

 

[Fat lady]

Bl**dy stupid. Fawlty towers is offensive to hotel keepers, spaniards, germans, coloured people, women, rats, cockneys and aristocrats to name just a few. It's still brilliantly funny

BBC should insert a warning statement before the programme that says:

This program contains scenes that some may find offensive. It was made at a time when people had a sense of humour rather than an ill-placed sense of injustice. Ar**holes with no sense of humour should switch off now.