GB News Free Speech Nation host Andrew Doyle has slammed the BBC's decision to remove an episode of the sitcom 'Yes, Prime Minister' as "disturbing."
According to Josh Howie, The BBC has quietly removed an episode of the political comedy 'Yes, Prime Minister' from iPlayer.
It has been confirmed, that the episode of the sitcom that mentioned Israel has been removed and the BBC has not explained why it has been deleted from the streaming service.
Standup comic Josh Howie explained the decision on GB News: "This hasn't blown up at all, but someone was looking for Yes, Prime Minister.
Standup comic Josh Howie claimed that it had been removed because it mentions Israel
GB News/PA/BBC
"It's an episode of the old Seminole sitcom, one of the greatest sitcoms of all time, on the BBC and also on Sky, it goes to Episode 5 and then skips straight to Episode 7.
"You can't get Episode 6 because it's about Israel."
Doyle said: "I mean, that is absolutely astonishing. Have you verified this?"
To which Howie replied: "I have, watch this space for what happens."
The episode was missing on BBC iPlayer
BBC iPlayer
Doyle then said: "They do this all the time. So I was talking to John about this because there's an episode of Fawlty Towers and if you watch it on the BBC streaming service, they've cut out a scene from the Germans because there's a racial slur in the scene.
"But of course, the use of the slur is to attack and mock the person using it.
"I wish that streaming services would just leave stuff alone because otherwise we just have to buy the old DVD box sets, don't we?
"But to cut out an entire episode. Just because it's problematic to mention Israel? We don't know of course why they've done it, but if that is the case, that's disturbing."
Andrew Doyle slammed the decision as "disturbing"
GB News
A BBC Spokesperson told GB News: “No episodes of Yes, Prime Minister have been removed from BBC iPlayer.
"When making archive programmes available to watch on our channels and iPlayer, we always consider the current context to ensure we meet the expectations of viewers.”
This would not be the first time that the BBC has cut an episode of a beloved show due to "fear of backlash."
Last year the BBC decided not to broadcast an episode of Sir David Attenborough’s on British wildlife because of fears "its themes of the destruction of nature would risk a backlash from Tory politicians and the rightwing press."
Senior sources at the BBC revealed to The Guardian the decision not to show the sixth episode was made to "fend off potential critique from the political right."
The BBC strongly denied this was the case and insisted the episode in question was never intended for broadcast.
