Express & Star

Mark Andrews on Saturday: Shameless TV bosses tripped-up by woke Proms

Channel 4 repeated an old episode of Shameless this week, followed by the painfully PC message "If you have been affected by any of the issues in this programme please see our website."

Published
Frank Gallagher from Shameless

And what issues might they be? Have you ever agreed to a bigamous marriage to silence the loudmouth in the local pub, but couldn't get a divorce because your first wife is inside for GBH? Or has your pyromaniac brother escaped from prison and set fire to the gents' during the wedding reception? I would have thought that if you are affected by any of these issues, you might need more than the Channel 4 website.

It makes you nostalgic for the days when "If you have been affected by any of the issues" was just a get-out clause to justify bad-taste plots in soap operas.

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Meanwhile promising new TV channel CCX found it necessary to precede a repeat of Leonard Rossiter sitcom Tripper's Day with the warning: "This programme contains references which were considered acceptable at the time it was made."

And what references were they? Outdated racial terminology? Jokes about slavery? A cameo from the Black and White Minstrel Show? As far as I could tell, it must have been the quip by supermarket manager Rossiter that he would tolerate a male member of staff wearing an earring, but drew the line at him 'selling lucky heather and clothes pegs'. Is anybody really so sensitive they might be offended by that?

Maybe all episodes of Only Fools and Horses should carry a 'Trigger' warning.

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Last Night of the Proms will this year go ahead without the traditional choruses of Rule Britannia and Land of Hope and Glory. Instead, orchestral versions will be played, without the singing.

The BBC initially claimed it was due to coronavirus, but later admitted it followed discussions about the nationalist nature of the lyrics. Finnish conductor Dalia Stasevska is said to have been keen to 'modernise' the Proms, and dial down the patriotic elements.

Now I'm not particularly anti-BBC, and don't have any burning desire to see the licence fee scrapped. But it doesn't help itself, does it? You would think when its public service remit is being questioned like never before, the BBC would know better than impose a woke agenda on the one populist, patriotic thing it actually does.

And you do wonder why the British Broadcasting Corporation has such a hang-up about Britain.

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And while there will be no singing of Rule Britannia this year, we will be treated to a rendition of You'll Never Walk Alone. How very inclusive. Unless you're an Everton fan, obviously.

It makes you wonder what other popular songs could be included to reflect the modern BBC's right-on values. Dire Straits, perhaps?

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Perhaps we should be grateful Miss Stasevska did not ask her husband for advice on what music to play.

Lauri Porra is bass guitarist with German rock band Strativarius, known for its, ahem, eccentric obsession with Adolf Hitler. Who was not known for his inclusivity.