They wouldn't get away with that today

No one at moment because all competitions are banned on the BBC at this moment in time!!!!! IT would possibly put it towards their profit, C4 are trying the charity excuse at the moment and RTL5 (oops I mean five) possibly go towards their profits!!!!!

They have charge to pay for the shortcode they use because if they didn't then they couldn't charge for the txt and then they couldn't pay for the shortcode and then they couldn't charge for the txt and then they couldn't pay for the shortcode and then they couldn't charge for the txt and then they couldn't pay for the shortcode and then they couldn't charge for the txt and then they couldn't pay for the shortcode and then they couldn't charge for the txt.

Have you thought of rebooting your positronic matrix

I always wondered what happened to Max Headroom!

I would actually expect TV to become more tolerant in places by 2027.

But hopefully, by that time, the public will have got tired of all the reality shows ( NewsreaderX and The McDonalds Employee Factor killing off the genre altogether) leaving more space for drama - which will probably include less violence, more topical references, more nudity and roughly a similar proportional amount of sex scenes (after the 9:30pm watershed).

From the 1970s, Bernard Manning on Parkinson saying something like "I think all the Christians, and all The Sikhs and all the Jews, should all get together, and kill the pakis"

I'm surprised The Two Ronnies didn't get edited on ITV3 this weekend. Another Charley Farley and Piggy Malone serial saw the pair sent to France on their latest mission. The opening narration set the scene for being abroad: "worst of all, it's full of foreigners". Later in the sketch, a diver pops up for air and says he's a police frogman. Ronnie B: "Yeah I could tell that when you opened your mouth!"

Not surprised either, that gag's crap.

Funny how they remain as popular as ever, in that case, Especially with what passes for comedy today.

Remember that in retrospect Fawlty Towers would never be allowed to have the Major making racist comments today - but it's still broadcast on TV pre-watershed and most people (even those of Asian or African descent) find it hilarious.

Take The Germans . There are at least 2 N-words and one W-word used by the Major, and Basil is clearly uncomfortable with the black doctor. But the fact that they aren't portrayed in a positive light (Basil being the rude, angry man and the Major being an archaic, senile old man from some bygone era) seems to make it acceptable to show pre-watershed (ie Basil is silly. He uses this word. That makes him silly and nasty.)

A couple more examples of 1980s things you wouldn't see in 2007...

Pat Butcher says 'Paki' - http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=u4oL_xHzG3g

The character of Pat (and society) has changed so much that its probably realistic that she doesn't use this kind of language in 2007. I believe some characters would still use racist lanuage like this though. In 2007 even when Eastenders is dealing with racism they don't use any real racist words.

Tom Jones notices an increase in Arabs - http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=aqUanKOSpYk

I don't think its racist to notice and comment on an increase of Arabs in Britain but I bet Tom Jones wouldn't say that in 2007. His media advisers would make sure he didn't.

Smoking is another one. Will scenes from Coronation Street and Eastenders that show someone smoking look as out of place as clips of people smoking on chat shows and even the 1979 election coverage does today? Even in 2007, if a soap character is seen smoking then you can be sure there is a smoking story line coming up, no one smokes just because thats what they do. I bet old clips of people smoking in pubs will look strange in a few years too.

I was quite suprised to see that not too long ago they had an Alf Garnett movie on which was quite interesting (and funny)...