The People's Channel

They've obviously had to be selective in an area that changed franchise every round, such as the south. The only real problem is the complete lack of Tyne Tees (and Channel although they may have just left that off for artistic reasons) with Border covering a huge area twice its transmission size.

This is a bit of a cockup like that map of the EU that missed off Wales that was in the news a few months back.

Anyone thought of telling the publishers?

Are you serious?

Did you see the clip of Love They Neighbour they showed last night? Can you really see someone suggesting that his wife would be likely to be raped by their neighbour, simply because he was black, in the name of comedy these days?

I'm not easily shocked, but that clip really shocked me. You heard Michael Grade say how they were using that as a way of laughing at racist people for having such stupid views. But in my view it actually did the opposite and just promoted those wrong views. Luckily Michael Grade came to that conclusion himself eventually!

I was actually sitting open mouthed at the scenes shown from Love Thy Neighbour and Mind Your Language. How they were ever even allowed to be broadcast even in the 70s astounds me. Thankfully times have changed!

Well we're going to be shooting an independent comedy pilot for ITV this summer - all I can say is thank god for ITV network centre.

It certainly was shocking by today's standards, but nevertheless it was a very popular show, why? My point was that ITV are so desperate for hits these days they could no longer afford to axe a show because of concerns of taste or political correctness. if a similarly shocking show ran today but was popular they would resist any public outcry.

That's a specious argument. If the programme were so offensive that it caused a public outcry, then it wouldn't be consistently pulling that many viewers.

Well it's all a bit irrelevant really because they wouldn't be allowed to broadcast something like that these days unless they wanted a massive fine.

No it isnt, love my neighbour was massively successful and offensive at the same time, so it isnt impossible that the same thing could happen today. It doesnt have to be racism, it could be any controversial topic.

But the point is, it WASN'T considered controversial at the time! Public opinion has changed.

Also, to repeat myself, ITV would simply not be allowed to broadcast anything like that these days under Ofcom regulations.

Many people considered love my neighbour of questionable taste at the time, bill bryson recounts seeing it in notes from a small island and feeling queasy about it.

Yes, it couldnt be shown today, but look at jerry springer the opera. regulations allowed that to be shown in the face of a christian backlash. it was only a niche show, but in the future you could see programmes which half the country loves and the other half despises with a fury.

Theres a difference between a program that makes a joke out of suggesting a woman could be raped by her black neighbour, and an Opera that was taken completely out of context by the right wing media and ultra conservative Christian groups which quite frankly peddled lies about its content.