More information has emerged about why the BBC may have pulled the Christmas special of Diane Morgan’s comedy Mandy at the last minute – but the revelation raises more questions than answers.

Popbitch today discloses that the sitcom featured a scene in which Vladimir Putin is garrotted with a cheese wire. 

Mandy then brings the head back to Britain and gives it to an Army chief who, the gossip newsletter reports, ‘is seen appearing to use Putin’s head for something spicy on his private parts’.

However, it’s unlikely that the risk of offending the Russian despot would have caused undue concern – and, as Popbitch says, there was another twist: It wasn’t Putin after all that Mandy decapitated but his body double.

The 20-minute special is titled The Mandy Who Knew Too Much and has the synopsis: ‘Mandy rarely dabbles in global diplomacy, especially over Christmas when it's so cold out and there's good telly on, but when she does, you can bet that she makes a real difference to the balance of power in the world.’

The episode was recorded last January, alongside the fourth season, and had been due to air on December 22 until being withdrawn at the last minute, reportedly to allow for new edits.

That decision came days after  Donald Trump filed a $10billion defamation lawsuit against the BBC over its editing of a speech he made to supporters in Washington before they stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.