Stephen Merchant says BBC would now be too scared of liberal Left to make The Office

The comedian has complained political correctness is ruining comedy

Comedian Stephen Merchant censors himself for fear of a backlash on Twitter (Getty) (Getty)

The comedian Stephen Merchant has claimed The Office could not be made now due to the liberal Left deciding what we should - and shouldn't - find funny.

Merchant, who co-wrote the hit sitcom with Ricky Gervais, has said militant liberals are taking the fun out of comedy and funnymen – including himself - are now censoring their jokes.

The actor, who is currently starring in the West End, complained anyone who speaks out of turn faces a Twitter mob and people are constantly having to apologise for what they have said.

The BBC was prepared to broadcast The Office, which features jokes about race, sexual politics and the disabled, in 2001 but Merchant claimed the fear of a backlash meant the corporation would think twice about making it now.

In an interview with the Telegraph, he said: “This idea that we have to police ourselves, that we might say the wrong thing and upset someone or something. It’s not fun. It’s just not fun.

“I don’t think The Office would have got off the ground if we’d made it now.

“I think it would have been shut down. I think the BBC would have been too jumpy.”

The Office scooped a Golden Globe for Best Television Series in 2004 (Getty)

Merchant claimed censorship has changed from being a conservative force, driven by social campaigner Mary Whitehouse, in the Seventies to now being a preserve of the left.

He said: “I feel that there’s a ‘right-on’ fascism.

“No, that’s a bit strong. It feels like we’ve come from a point when I was growing up, where the right, if you like, were dictating what could be said and done and seen – where Mary Whitehouse was the figurehead of censorship.

“And increasingly now it feels like it’s the liberal agenda that dictates what can and cannot be joked about.”

But the actor, who also co-wrote and starred in Extras and Life’s Too Short with Gervais, still risked ire by questioning the correct name to use for Caitlyn Jenner.

He said: “People are being leapt on because they happened to use the wrong terminology about Bruce Jenner, or Caitlyn Jenner, or whatever his name is now, or her name. There I am making mistakes. I’ll probably get in trouble for that.”