TV & Film
Netflix removes League of Gentlemen and Mighty Boosh over blackface controversy
Many programmes have been removed.
Several programmes have been axed from streaming services due to white actors using blackface in a number of episodes and films.
Blackface is the term used to describe theatrical makeup by white people to represent – usually insultingly – a caricature of a black person. It is a term that finds its origins in the US.
It demonstrates a long, deeply rooted and painful history found within racial ideologies that underpin transatlantic slavery.
It was created in a time when black people did not have the same rights as white people and were denied citizenship as an excuse to justify state violence. This meant that Black people were not allowed to be seen on stage due to their skin colour.
Blackface is often thought of as an old relic from the 1800s but there are many cases of modern 21st century TV programs still using it.
In the light of the resurgence of the BLM movement, critics have called for shows that depict blackface which are still on streaming services to be removed because it does little to combat racism.
Although in many cases it’s widely agreed the individual wearing blackface does not intend racism, it still causes harm through ignorance.
The League of Gentlemen and The Mighty Boosh are the latest shows to be removed from Netflix due to their use of blackface, the Guardian reports.
Little Britain has also been removed from Netflix, Britbox and BBC iPlayer due to the use of blackface in some of the sketches of the show.
Come Fly With Me, also from Matt Lucas and David Walliams, has also been axed.
“There’s a lot of historical programming available on BBC iPlayer, which we regularly review,” a spokesperson from the BBC said, adding: “Times have changed since Little Britain first aired so it is not currently available on BBC iPlayer.”
Matt Lucas has previously admitted that Little Britain ‘aged terribly’, stressing that if the comedy was ever renewed, he would never play a black character again.
Gone With the Wind, an American civil war romance, positively depicts slavery and has since been removed from HBO Max where it was previously streamable.
Channel 4 has removed Bo Selecta from its All4 streaming service and Leigh Francis, the comedian who played many black celebrities in the programme, such as Craig David and Trisha Goddard, has apologised for using blackface.
Ant and Dec have also issued an apology for a segment of Saturday Night Takeaway in 2003 where they impersonated people from other ethnic backgrounds using blackface.
Despite the concept of blackface starting by white entertainers mimicking black people for entertainment purposes, many people are arguing that the programmes are ‘old’ and removing them from streaming services ‘takes away our right to choose’.
One Twitter user put: ‘The censorship of comedy – a favourite hobby in Hitler’s Germany – continues. Weary face Little Britain removed from BBC iPlayer, Netflix and BritBox due to use of blackface.”
It has caused much debate in the public, with one Twitter user explaining the issue thus: “Nobody is going on BBC iPlayer to watch those shows as a history lesson, they’re watching it to laugh – often at the expense of black people.”
TV & Film
Ant and Dec’s new ITV show is looking for contestants from Greater Manchester
The new game show is billed to have ‘life changing’ prizes up for grabs
Ant and Dec’s production company is on the look out for brave contestants from Greater Manchester to take part in a new game show.
The new show, titled Fortune Favours the Brave, has been billed as a ‘life-changing show’ thanks to the amount of money up for grabs, and will feature familiar games viewers will recognise but with a unique twist.
The call out for contestants tells potential players they need ‘nerves of steel’, ‘good general knowledge’ and a ‘risk-taking attitude.’
ITV
The show is looking for pairs of players, with an assistant producer telling ChronicleLive: “People can apply with a parent, sibling, partner, housemate, neighbour, colleague or bestie.
“There are massive, life-changing amounts of money to play for – and it’s a fun, fast-paced entertainment quiz-based show – with a huge twist!”
Fortune Favours the Brave has been commissioned by the Geordie duo’s production company, Mitre Studios, though it isn’t yet known if they’ll actually be hosting the show.
ITV
Reckon you’re the perfect candidate?
Applications are being accepted now – filming will commence in London in October so, if successful, candidates will need to be free on certain dates. Transport will be included.
The deadline for applications is midday on September 17th, 2021. Any applications sent after this date will not be considered.
Send off your application here.
TV & Film
Netflix to air chilling new Dennis Nilsen documentary with never-before-heard tapes of killer
Another day, another Netflix true crime doc
Netflix’s latest true crime documentary offering will be delving into the chilling crimes of Scottish serial killer Dennis Nilsen with never-before-heard tapes from his police interrogations.
Directed by Michael Harte – the man who brought us the 2019 masterpiece Don’t F**k With Cats – Memories of a Murderer: The Nilsen Tapes will be offering a deeper look into the mind of the calculated killer and necrophile, who confessed to brutally murdering fifteen young men and boys between 1978 and 1983.
The official synopsis reads: “Over a five-year period, he picked up vulnerable young men, lured them back to his home and strangled them, before disposing of their bodies under the floorboards.
Netflix
“The truth about how and why he killed has been the subject of much speculation in books and documentaries over the decades since. Now, with unique access to a wealth of personal archive left in his cell after his death, including over 250 hours of never-before-published cassette tapes of his private recordings, this film will take us into Nilsen’s world.
“From a young boy growing up in a quiet Scottish fishing village to a cold-blooded murderer prowling the streets of London.”
The synopsis continues: “Set against the backdrop of 1980s Britain, when mass unemployment drew young men to London in search of their fortunes, only to find themselves destitute and easy prey, and weaving together interviews from police, journalists, survivors, bereaved families, and – for the first time – the killer’s own voice, this feature-length documentary explores how Nilsen was able to get away with multiple murders and attacks, unchallenged, for five years.”
Nilsen, who died at the age of seventy-two in 2018, was catapulted back into the spotlight last year when David Tenant portrayed him in the gripping ITV mini-seires, Des.
Speaking to the Radio Times ahead of the series’ release, Tenant said he felt it was ‘right and proper’ that Nilsen didn’t live long enough to see the series, saying: “After he was arrested, Dennis Nilsen became obsessed with was the legend of Des, the reputation that he left behind.
“Whenever he slipped out of public consciousness, there was almost a sense that he wanted to get back into it. That’s why I’m relieved he’s not alive. I would hate for this to go out and for him to be sitting in some cell somewhere imaging we were in any way glorifying him.”
Memories of a murderer: The Nilsen Tapes will be available to stream on Netflix from tomorrow, Wednesday August 18th.
TV & Film
Come Dine With Me is looking for amateur cooks from Manchester for new series
If you’ve got all the grace and decorum of a reversing dump truck without any tyres on, get applying!
Know your way around the kitchen? Reckon your curry is the best in all of Manchester? Or do you just fancy competing for a £1,000 cash prize?
Well, you’d best get your oven mitts at the ready because everybody’s favourite reality cooking show, Channel 4’s Come Dine With Me, is on the hunt for keen cooks for their next series.
First airing back in 2005, Come Dine With Me has evolved from your bog-standard cooking show into a cultural phenomenon in its own right.
Channel 4
The premise is simple – five contestants each take it in turn to host their own dinner party complete with a three-course menu and entertainment. After each evening concludes, contestants rate each other on the quality of their food and their hosting skills, with the winner eventually taking home a £1,000 cash prize at the end of the week.
Over the years, the show has provided countless iconic and brilliantly quotable moments – we all remember Jane and her sad little life, don’t we?
Well, you could be a part of the fun very soon (or become the latest viral sensation granted you shove a whole whisk in your mouth), as Channel 4 are now casting for the latest series.
Channel 4
The casting call isn’t fussy – you simply need to be eighteen years or older and be eligible to live and work here in the UK.
To apply, you’ll need to fill out an application form before the closing date on September 10th, 2021.
Reckon you’re up to the challenge? You can find the full details and application here.
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