Fawlty Towers is one of the most loved and acclaimed British comedy shows of all time. It has been consistently ranked as the greatest British sitcom on numerous lists.
One of the most memorable episodes, The Germans, had recently been removed from UKTV due to the use of two racial slurs during the episode. However, it seems that the decision has been overturned.
Following UKTV’s quiet removal of the popular Fawlty Towers episode, The Germans, the streaming service has reinstated the episode.
The episode, which features Basil Fawlty’s famous line “Don’t mention the war,” was quietly removed from the BBC-owned streaming service without an explanation. It is clear to see that the reason involves one of the characters, The Major, using two racial slurs. John Cleese attacked the removal of the episode, explaining the scene in the show, “The Major was an old fossil leftover from decades before. We were not supporting his views, we were making fun of them. If they can’t see that, if people are too stupid to see that, what can one say?”
Cleese was not informed of UKTV’s decision until after the episode’s removal. Following the episode’s re-instalment, UKTV released a statement explaining, “We already offer guidance to viewers across some of our classic comedy titles, but we recognise that more contextual information can be required on our archive comedy, so we will be adding extra guidance and warnings to the front of programmes to highlight potentially offensive content and language. We will reinstate Fawlty Towers once that extra guidance has been added, which we expect will be in the coming days.”
