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Private Eye has been covering it for ages but this BBC podcast series is a great roundup of the Post Office Horizon scandal. Choice of ten 15 min chunks or two hour long episodes.
Utterly horrific -
They did an announcement in support of BLM and the audit of shows they run is part of that, actually doing more than just saying "I support BLM". They have large back catalogue of ageing series and some may includes things are no longer appropriate today, the removal of the episode, rightly or wrongly, was part of a genuine effort to make sure BAME people can watch anything on their platform without being subjected to abusive language.
It wasn't some piece of PR or spin to show how woke they are, which is why they didn't announce it. There may even be episode of other shows that have gone and no one has noticed because our nation has a strange obsession with Fawlty Towers, almost like people don't get that "don't mention the war" is a joke at Basil's expense rather than something to be emulated in their lives.
This is also why I have issue with people saying Fawlty Towers should be kept intact because it's all a joke at how small minded Basil is or how it's a satire, because I've never heard anyone say that's why it's funny, instead they laugh along at him belittling Manuel and mocking Germans.
E.g. "Since when did we stop laughing at the Germans. I'm sure they bombed the UK and undertook the holocaust..."
https://twitter.com/freddie_tash/status/1271353517089927173(this isn't really aimed at you @hugo7, you just prompted the point for me)
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UKTV to reinstate Fawlty Towers episode The Germans - https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2020/jun/12/john-cleese-attacks-stupid-removal-of-fawlty-towers-episode
An episode of the classic 1970s sitcom Fawlty Towers is set to be reinstated on a BBC-owned streaming service after the service removed it because it contained “racial slurs”.
The famous “Don’t mention the war” episode will return to the platform “in the coming days”, according to a statement from UKTV.
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This is also why I have issue with people saying Fawlty Towers should be kept intact because it's all a joke at how small minded Basil is or how it's a satire, because I've never heard anyone say that's why it's funny, instead they laugh along at him belittling Manuel and mocking Germans.
Of course they say that, because that's the entire premise of the show: loads of normal people turn up at the hotel and highlight the dysfunctional relationship between Basil, Sybil and their staff (Polly being the sole sensible voice) and permanent residents (like the major). It makes fun of Basil's small mindedness, his social climbing and ambition (like sucking up to the man he thinks is the hotel inspector) and the fact that he thinks other people are holding him back, whereas it's his own bumbling incompetence (or just bad luck) that prevent him from really succeeding.
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don't see Basil mentioning "the war" in every sentence as a joke at the expense of Basil, they see it at the expense of the Germans.
They really don't. The joke is that bringing up the war would be insensitive to Germans (and a really stupid thing to say to German guests if they're in your hotel). The line is "don't mention the war", which he repeatedly says to his staff while inadvertently referring to it himself (because he's concussed having been hit on the head by a moose). Of course it's a dig at him, the Germans are just guests who he's managing to offend, just like he offends so many other guests. It's a joke entirely at his expense.
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I've heard way too many peope unironically quote the show in the real life to believe it's the case for the majority of the audience.
That's probably true, but it's always difficult to say how a line will be used out of context. I guess there are people who used that line whenever they were anywhere near a German, but for them it might well have just been a stand-in for actually goose-stepping around with a finger under their nose i.e., they were wankers.
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It would have been leaked. John Clese has been pretty vocal, so maybe he found out about it.
@ffm - specifically on the Germans joke, TBF lots of people do quote that at the expense of Germans rather than in the vain it was intended.
Where I struggle is whether some dickheads misinterpreting something is a problem. Genuinely don't know.
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In the 1990s I had a German flatmate. All the English guys she met in London would quote “don’t mention the war” at her. Usually with the finger mustache and goose stepping.
Likewise she couldn’t believe the amount of WW2 progs on the telly. Looked at from her point of view it was embarrassing. When she came back with her husband in 2010, there was freeview and WW2 was on 24/7. That was even more embarrassing.
There’s no doubt that the UK suffers from a WW2 fixation.
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And one world cup.
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Yeah, but our lads won it, our lads.
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My grandad fought for Franco, tho' I'm not quite sure how much say he had in the decision... They just bundled him off in the night...
In sharp contrast my mate's family in Madrid fought with the Communists, most of his family were rooted out and executed, brutal stuff...
My dad loves Franco, we fight about that all the time... Not good...
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It's always interesting to hear people's personal stories about these topics. Far too easy to get sucked into a good VS. evil narrative.
On the other side, I remember speaking to an El Salvadorian about why he joined the FMLN to fight. His parents were killed by the death squads when he was a ~12yo. They gave him a gun and food.
As catchy as that would sound in a movie, looked at another way, they groomed a vulnerable child to become a child soldier and removed from his siblings and wider family.
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Unfortunately.