Radio 4 drops Don't Make Me Laugh | David Baddiel's show attracted complaints over Queen gag

Radio 4 drops Don't Make Me Laugh

David Baddiel's show attracted complaints over Queen gag

Radio 4 has axed David Baddiel's Don't Make Me Laugh – after it sparked a storm over jokes about the Queen's sex life.

The comedian confirmed the news on Twitter, tweeting sardonically: 'I'm hoping maybe to pitch it again once we get past the 1960s. Oh no wait a minute, it's 2016.'

The panel show launched in 2014, with the premise that comedians had to try NOT to get laughs from the suggested topics.

But it made headlines this year following an episode which asked the panellists Omid Djalili, Sara Pascoe, Russell Kane and Adam Hess to speak on the topic: 'The Queen must have had sex at least four times.'

Unfortunately, it aired on the Queen's 90th birthday – sparking 120 complaints to the BBC Trust.

The Corporation admitted the gags were a 'serious breach' of editorial guidelines. On the day after the offending show aired, it said 'While Radio 4 comedy is a broad church and often pushes boundaries, we would like to apologise for yesterday's broadcast of Don't Make Me Laugh.'

After the complaints, the show was moved from 6.30pm to 11pm, where it had originally been scheduled. However it has now been dropped altogether, although the BBC made no mention of the complaints when confirming the decision.

A Radio 4 spokeswoman said: 'We're lucky to receive hundreds of great ideas from brilliant comedians who want to work with Radio 4, and we always bring a mix of returning shows to our audiences whilst also finding space for new programmes in our packed schedule, This means not all shows get recommissioned as otherwise it would be impossible to try out fresh formats and ideas.'

Be offended by this clip of the Queen segment:

Published: 5 Oct 2016

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