At Channel 4, we’re balancing the need to be sensitive to the opinions of our audience while showing the truth about our past
• Dorothy Byrne is editor-at-large at Channel 4
Every public service organisation in this country is examining itself in the light of Black Lives Matter. Principled campaigners are challenging us to deal with our pasts. At Channel 4, our past doesn’t include money from slavery or statues glorifying slavers, but it does go back 38 years, and a lot has changed in that time. Think back for a moment to your favourite programmes 20 or 30 years ago; some of the characters you loved probably said things that would make you shudder today. A number of the jokes would now seem tasteless, even vile. So what should we do with them?
The comedian and director Leigh Francis recently apologised for playing characters in blackface in Channel 4’s Bo’ Selecta!. Francis, who produced the series for five years, said he doesn’t want it to be kept on our on-demand service All4. Channel 4 has since removed it, but a number of broadcasters and streaming services that rushed to remove material have later reinstated it, albeit with warnings or explanations.
HBO initially removed Gone With the Wind but has now returned the film with a short introductory video stating that it “denies the horrors of slavery”.