Fawlty Towers: UKTV to reinstate ‘don’t mention the war’ episode with added warning over racial slurs

Broadcaster says ‘The Germans’ will return to the schedules ‘in the coming days’ after controversial removal

An episode of classic 1970s sitcom Fawlty Towers is set to be reinstated on UKTV’s streaming service after it was initially removed because it contains “racial slurs”.

The famous “don’t mention the war” episode will return to the platform “in the coming days”, according to a statement from the organisation.

Guidance and warnings highlighting “potentially offensive content and language” will feature alongside the episode, it added.

UKTV, which is owned by BBC Studios, previously said it had temporarily made The Germans unavailable while it carried out a review.

The decision was criticised by John Cleese, who played misanthropic hotel owner Basil Fawlty in the series.

UKTV’s statement said: “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.

“We will continue to look at what content is on offer as we always have done.”

The episode first aired in 1975 and sees Basil Fawlty goose-stepping around while shouting “don’t mention the war” in front of a group of visiting Germans.

It also contains scenes showing the Major Gowen character using offensive language about the West Indies cricket team.

On Friday, Cleese told The Age newspaper: “The major was an old fossil left over 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?”

He said there was a “really admirable feeling that we must make our society less discriminatory” but said: “A lot of the people in charge now at the BBC just want to hang on to their jobs.

“If a few people get excited they pacify them rather than standing their ground as they would have done 30 or 40 years ago.”

Several broadcasters and streaming services have reevaluated their content after the Black Lives Matter movement has returned to prominence following the death of George Floyd.

HBO Max temporarily removed 1939 civil war epic Gone With The Wind because of its “racial depictions”.

Little Britain has been removed from iPlayer because “times have changed” since the comedy first aired, according to the BBC.

A BBC spokeswoman said: “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 continue to look at what content is on offer as we always have done.”

Press Association