Libby Purves criticises BBC's 'misguided' move to clean up old shows

Libby Purves, the former BBC Radio 4 Today presenter, has criticised the corporation for editing archived programmes to remove content deemed offensive, arguing that the cuts are "misguided quixotism". The public broadcaster has been editing radio shows including Dad's Army, Steptoe And Son and I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again to remove racially insensitive and politically incorrect jokes, the Times revealed earlier this year.

There must be a place at the BBC for future Pythons

"Every one of us fights some battle, not all visible. And there are areas where the pious, reverse discrimination becomes plain potty," writes Libby Purves.

Libby Purves: BBC's 'diverse' comedy is just 'PC panic'

Libby Purves has accused the BBC of 'virtue-signalling' as the broadcaster refuses to make white, male comedy in a drive to become more diverse.

Whatever happened to innuendo?

Television, which sets the tone for much else, was 75 years old last week, and it is starting to resemble a classic Dirty Old Man. Night after night, comedy, chat, quizzes, pop videos and entertainment shows lean on ever more explicit sexual crudeness.

The quartet of R4 presenters - Evan Davis, Libby Purves, Peter White and Laurie Taylor - who walked the comedy plank for Red Nose Day in Stand-Up For Comic Relief didn't exactly bring the house down.

In the video on the R4 website, Davies looked so far out of his comfort zone one could hardly bear to watch, while 73-year-old Taylor, a more natural humourist, seemed quite at home pacing the stage, cracking jokes. However it was White who had the edge by virtue of his comedian's voice and his lack of inhibition about doing disability jokes. Who else but a blind person would dare do jokes about being blind? The public voted him the winner by a wide margin.