Little Britain removed from BBC iPlayer, Netflix and BritBox because ‘times have changed’

Little Britain has been removed from a variety of catch up services including BBC’s own iPlayer.

Starring David Walliams and Matt Lucas, Little Britain first started on Radio 4 in 2000 before moving to screen on BBC Three and later BBC One.

Episodes of the series, which last aired in 2007, have this week been pulled from streaming services iPlayer, Netflix and BritBox.

In a statement provided to the Daily Mail newspaper, the BBC said: “There’s a lot of historical programming available on BBC iPlayer, which we regularly review

“Times have changed since Little Britain first aired so it is not currently available on BBC iPlayer.”

David Walliams and Matt Lucas’ other series Come Fly With Me has also been removed from Netflix and BritBox.

A spokesperson for BritBox said: “Times have changed since Little Britain first aired, so it is not currently available on BritBox. Come Fly With Me has not been available on the service for six months.”

Netflix meanwhile told the Guardian that they had “no comment but can confirm that we removed both titles on Friday last week”.

Matt Lucas has previously expressed regret over some of the older sketches.

“If I could go back and do Little Britain again, I wouldn’t make those jokes about transvestites. I wouldn’t play black characters,” he told the Big Issue in 2017. “Basically, I wouldn’t make that show now. It would upset people. We made a more cruel kind of comedy than I’d do now.”

Despite the controversy of past episodes, The Sun newspaper recently claimed that streaming giant Netflix has offered a deal of ‘around £3 million’ for a revival of Little Britain.

“Netflix have set up phone meetings next week with David and Matt,” a source shared with the tabloid. “The offer they are making is more than double the BBC could make. It’d be a package of well over a million each.

“David and Matt don’t need the cash but bosses at Netflix know they are a more viable option for the brand.”

At the time of writing, Little Britain’s previous TV series remain available online and on DVD via Amazon.