Overkill, or a problem to be addressed?

The BBC has been accused of ‘overkill’ after cutting sketches referencing racism and racial stereotypes from That Mitchell and Webb Look – including some that featured blackface.

A total of 11 scenes were removed from the show before is four serires were added to iPlayer to mark its 20th anniversary earlier this month, The Times reports.

They include a skit involving English Civil War re-enactors who update their hobby by restaging a clash between government forces and rebel militia in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

David Mitchell and Robert Webb don blackface for the sketch, with Webb asking: ‘Are you absolutely sure that this isn’t racist?’ The pair agree to stop the re-enactment at the first sign of racism. Which they do immediately when Webb produces a machete.

Here is the scene:

Another removed sketch is a parody of TV makeover shows, with the subject being a woman wearing a burqa. It’s followed by the comedians discussing whether the sketch is offensive, during which Mitchell says: ‘What’s offensive to one person is just good, clean fun to another,’ before pulling off the burqa and revealing blackface.

Two further removed sketches feature Webb as a shopper who encounters an apparently indigenous ‘tribe’ living secretly in a garden centre and speaking broken English. 

Trigger Happy TV creator Dom Joly said it was an example of ‘classic BBC overkill’ and ‘hysterical censorship’.

‘I totally get it if the BBC is putting out something really racist, which is laughing at and encouraging other people to feel that it’s okay to do that,’ he told the newspaper. ‘But it’s so clear that Mitchell and Webb are not doing that. Their intent was not to be racist.’

He also said removing material could also play into the hands of the those who believe ‘we’re not allowed to say anything any more…’

Veteran TV comedy producer Jimmy Mulville said nuance had been lost in the age of social media, adding: ‘We have to be careful that this is not the thin end of a wedge where we cut things out’ but added: ‘The blackface thing, I think, is a problem.' he said.

Additionally, a spoof news report featuring an image of Jimmy Savile was removed. The sketch – which aired in 2008 before the paedophile’s monstrous crimes had come to light  –  starts halfway through the bulletin with Mitchell saying: ‘…three life sentences. A spokesman said: "You think you know a guy and he goes and does something like that"’

The series is also available on Sky-owned streaming service Now TV – with U&Gold branding – where it was uncut, but preceded by a caption which said: ‘This episode features standards and attitudes of its time that viewers may find offensive.’

A BBC spokeswoman told The Times: ‘That Mitchell and Webb Look has been made available on BBC iPlayer. This is a 20-year-old sketch show; in consultation with the programme makers, we have included the ones that still work today and not the ones that don’t.’

It is not clear if that meant the comedians themselves had agreed to the cuts.

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Published: 20 Sep 2026