Sitcom rapped over bad language

The BBC is to bleep out the word 'Paki' in a vintage episode of Only Fools And Horses after viewers complained.

Two people contacted the corporation after the 1985 Christmas special was repeated last summer.

The complaints unit said that although the language was "in keeping with what viewers would be likely to expect of the particularly unsympathetic character", it played no key role in establishing the character.

Their report, published today, added: "It is a word which, according to research, has become more widely perceived as seriously offensive since the programme was first broadcast. It should not have been broadcast."

The BBC says the word will now be 'obscured or edited out' if the episode is repeated again.

Producers of the Radio 2 comedy compilation show Wax On... also landed in hot water after one listener complained that an American comedian used the word "mongoloid" in a derogatory sense.

Published: 4 Feb 2004