How McGowan was censored by the BBC

Alistair McGowan said the BBC banned him from using the word ‘tits’ in his show – because it was broadcast on Christmas day.

The comic said he had to rewrite the gag for his 2002 Big Impression Christmas special.

He said: ‘We had a sketch with Trinny and Susannah - they were always saying, “Your tits look great, your tits look fantastic” We had to change it to tuts.’

Ironically, in reporting the quote today the Daily Mirror asterixed out the middle letter of the word tit – but only one of the three times the story used it, leading to the bizarre censorship: 'Your tits look great, your t*ts look fantastic.’

Published: 8 Jul 2010