Little Britain is gaining a new lease of life despite 2020 ban

Thanks to social media, it seems that one of the most controversial comedies has had a resurgence.

Little Britain is wildly divisive, having been slated for its racist, classist, homophobic, misogynistic, and ableist sketches in the years since it ended. But now, the David Walliams, 53, and Matt Lucas, 51, BBC show has found a new audience on TikTok, where users often make old clips go viral.

Gen Z (people born between 1997 and 2013) seem to be fans of its boundary-pushing humour, with soundbites from iconic scenes reaching millions of viewers.

A quick search shows the Little Britain hashtag alone has 61,500 videos posted under it, one of which is from a Fat Fighters sketch of Lucas in drag, having accumulated over 17,000 likes.

Playing the role of a weight loss group leader, his character, Marjorie, is unable to understand an Asian woman as she speaks about ‘fish and chips,’ asking her to repeat herself several times.

‘It must be some sort of dish we don’t have over here,’ she remarks, instead writing ‘curry’ on the flipchart.

Comment sections on such videos are where viewers express their shock, declaring, ‘You could NEVER get away with that today’, and stating that Little Britain was, quite simply, unhinged.

However, many say that they miss this genre of comedy, demanding it be ‘brought back,’ despite the obvious offensive language on display in these clips.

Consequently, rumours of a possible Little Britain revival have been ignited as its modern-day fanbase discovers what was hailed as playing a defining role in noughties TV.

Little Britain attracted almost 10million viewers in its heyday, and it was still being broadcast on TV until early 2020.

However, following the rise of cancel culture, the Black Lives Matter movement, and just general societal awareness, the programme was pulled by the Beeb.

At the time, bosses stated simply: ‘Times have changed.’

It was also banned from other streaming sites such as BritBox and Netflix. A while later, a restored version was added to iPlayer.

Since, writers and stars Walliams and Lucas have been forced to answer questions about the types of storylines they created, from doing Blackface to wearing fat suits.

Both have expressed remorse, saying four years ago that they ‘regretted’ playing other races.

‘Once again, we want to make it clear that it was wrong, and we are very sorry,’ they shared in a statement at the time.

In 2017, Lucas also said that if he could ‘go back and do Little Britain again,’ he wouldn’t make jokes about trans people, nor would he play Black characters.

‘Basically, I wouldn’t make that show now. It would upset people. We made a more cruel kind of comedy than I’d do now.’

Similarly, former Britain’s Got Talent judge Walliams has said he would ‘definitely do it differently’ in today’s world.

However, Little Britain, which aired 44 episodes from 2003 to 2006, is not the only problematic series to come from the pens of Walliams and Lucas.

The duo also made Come Fly With Me, which aired for one series in 2010 as a mockumentary set inside a fictional airport.

In 2020, this, too, was removed from Netflix due to its use of Blackface, brownface, and yellowface. Six months earlier, it was axed from BritBox.

Despite the immense backlash to their comedy throughout their careers, both Walliams and Lucas have said they would ‘love to bring [Little Britain] back in some way’, perhaps via a stage show.

Just last month, while appearing on Lorraine, the pair spoke about their new podcast, Making A Scene, and were asked by Lorraine Kelly whether Little Britain could ever return.

Walliams replied: ‘Would you like to see it? We’ll do it especially for you.’

He added that his 11-year-old son has also become familiar with Little Britain thanks to TikTok, as clips have been shown around his school.

‘It’s a whole new generation discovering it. I think those social media things are great for one/two-minute clips.’

Scottish daytime broadcaster Lorraine added that while some of the comedy would ‘get you in trouble’ now, ‘if you don’t want to watch it, don’t watch it.’

‘If we were to do it again, maybe on stage, or something like that,’ Lucas chimed in.

‘We did a tour 20 years ago; it was great fun. I think that would be a good way to do it again.’