BBC shelves 'tasteless' sketch show

A Scottish radio comedy series has been shelved by the BBC amid ‘anxieties over taste and decency’.

The Franz Kafka Big Band included a sketch, Rolf's Blasphemous Cartoon Time, that portrayed Rolf Harris drawing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.

The five-part series was due to air at a 10pm slot on BBC Radio Scotland from next Monday. However, the corporation will now rerun the Glasgow-based troupe’s first series instead.

The show was billed as ‘sure to surprise even the most unshockable’ when it was commissioned.

The troupe’s Craig Stobo, told The Scotsman: ‘The BBC wanted us to be the bad boys. Our mission statement is 'no sacred cows', so they knew what they were going to get. It's a case of be careful what you wish for, but we're gutted.’

But on their website the group say: ‘All this, is, of course fabulous news as being banned by the BBC is a surefire recipe for success.’

Producer Nick Low added: ‘Their idea of taste, decency and what's funny isn't the same as the people at the BBC It's all to do with whether there can be a compromise.’

Other sketches featured a cow flying into New York's Twin Towers and the song The Candy Man rewritten to include such lyrics as: ‘Who can start a jihad? The Taliban can.’

Published: 23 Aug 2006