Bob Monkhouse’s Notebooks Rejected by BBC Repair Shop Show Over “Racist” Jokes
Bob Monkhouse’s notebooks were rejected by the BBC’s The Repair Shop because producers deemed some of their jokes racist. The Telegraph has the story.
The comedian, who died in 2003, kept leather-bound books for decades that he filled with drawings and ideas for gags. They were put forward for restoration on an episode of the reality show.
But the Telegraph understands producers ruled that Monkhouse’s material was too racially offensive for a contemporary audience.
Insiders believed some of the material – which included parts dated from the 1960s – was so strong as to leave “no question” about whether it could be included in a family programme.
Ricochet, the series producer, decided against filming the notebooks, fearing that skirting around their offensive jokes risked a rebuke from Ofcom for misleading the audience.
It was understood BBC bosses backed its decision.
Joanna Ball, the Managing Director of Ricochet, said: “We planned to fix the joke book, but when we got it to the barn and saw it in its entirety, we realised it contained many jokes that were not appropriate for a programme.
“We explained this to the family and returned the book to them.”
The notebooks were brought to the programme by Abigail Williams, Monkhouse’s daughter, and Colin Edmonds, the joke-writer who is their legal owner.
Edmonds worked as a writer for Monkhouse, and was left the books on the comedian’s death in 2003.
They are filled with cartoons, including sketches of topless women, and jokes written in different inks to represent their subject matter.
Some entries are the first drafts of Monkhouse’s best-known lines, including: “I want to die like my father, peacefully in his sleep, not screaming and terrified, like his passengers.”
Edmonds, speaking about the volumes in 2015, gave an indication of their content: “They are of their time. There are things that were acceptable in the Seventies which one wouldn’t dream of saying today.”
Worth reading in full.
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The madleft claims that “diversity is our strength”. So why the insistence on conformity? And why is madleft censorship so often directed at the erasure of the white culture of our people’s past?
Certain sorts of conformity are better than other sorts of conformity. “Diversity is our strength” does not apply to you, me or Monkhouse
Let’s unpick things a bit. Bring British isn’t about race, everyone can be British.
OK. Old jokes were acceptable, non-offensive to the British, so since now everyone is British nobody can be offended by them, not least because there is no race any more, because we are all British which is a state of racelessness.
Have I got that right?
Eh? What?
Were they planning to read out every joke whilst tidying up the leather or something?
What a stupid story.
Apparently the jokes were of their time. Which means they were actually funny.
I watched some Drop The Dead Donkey on Rewind TV the other evening and was laughing out load.
Old shows “no longer acceptable to modern audiences” therefore not broadcast on BBC and ITV are shown on third party platforms, which must have to buy the rights to show them.
That means there must be a sufficiently large audience for them otherwise they would be losing money.
The truth is a small cohort of loonies is deciding for us what we must think and have. Typical Socialism/Fascism – the ugly twins.
Quite!
I think they were either worried about Racist Fomites permeating the books – seeping out through the pages – so that even touching the bindings would be dangerous; or – more likely – they were scared of what some frenzied Thought-Police investigation might do given evidence that they’d touched a Racist Book.
Group of f***ing woketards!
It looks a hefty volume, surely they could have just shown a few of the less “offensive” ones!
Bob was not a pre-Watershed Comedian, but I’m sure he used to appear on the BBC, I think he did the Golden Shot which was ITV, but didn’t he do Blankety Blank, as did Les Dawson, who was also “of his time”. Monkhouse was a legend!
FFS, they had Jim Davidson on Pot Black. Don’t think Bernard Manning had a show, but he would have been on some as a guest!
They (BBC) prefer to try and erase their past, but it was a different time! Just accept it, we’ve had to!
They are red books though, so you’d think they had that going for them at least? Maybe too big?…
“People used to laugh at me when I said I wanted to be a comedian. Well they’re not laughing now.” ― Bob Monkhouse
The Repair Shop, was one of the most patronising programmes ever when we still watched the BBC pre lockdown.
“This clock belonged to my great great great great grandfather who died in 1895.”
“Oh, bless, I’m so sorry for your loss.”
I got fed up with the repair shop after series on when they went full woke and it was all about suffering immigrants and old war veterans.
its so artificial now it makes me cringe!
As ever with these type of shows the producers get bored of the actual technical details quickly, like repair techniques, and therefor want to fill the whole programme with ‘back story’ and other emotional padding…
the first production company that actually twigs there is a very large audience for serious, technical content may bring some competition to YouTube… however I doubt it
Edmonds, speaking about the volumes in 2015, gave an indication of their content: “They are of their time. There are things that were acceptable in the Seventies which one wouldn’t dream of saying today.”
But the BBC doesn’t employ a “Winston Smith” brigade to fix up its archives in line with whatever the acceptable speech policy of the day happens to be – In the 1970s, we claimeds women get children! Can’t say that on air today anymore! – to make it appear that nobody working for the BBC in the past has ever transgressed in this respect yet?
If not, for how long will this be allowed to continue, considering that the woketards are extremely in favour of fixing up the past to stop it from offending the present?
Jimmy Savile – I rest my case!
Jeez …. a BBC programme I might have actually been fairly interested in watching and they scrap it.
No wonder the Beeb is on its last legs.
Yet BBC Radio4X still 24/7 broadcasts the likes of Frankie Howerd, Steptoe and Son, Hancock and many other old comedy shows. Also plays and stories like King Solomen’s Mines or Agatha Christie stories with a short warning about them containing “attitudes of the day”. I never watch BBC TV, but thank God for R4X.
“We planned to fix the joke book, but when we got it to the barn and saw it in its entirety, we realised it contained many jokes that were not appropriate for a programme.”
No.1 bete noire in the Newspeak Dictionary is… “inappropriate”. It packs quite a semantic punch. See, it’s not “wrong” as opposed to “right”. Saying that would invoke a whole, rich vein of human conviction and thought; there might be – Heaven forbid! – some debate or argument as a result.
No, it’s “inappropriate” and “appropriate”. In one word, the utterer manages to say “I can scan and discern the weather around the High Priests on the Holy Mountain, and take a good guess what their attitude might be. That’s because I am a Good Normal Person. If you question my judgment, you are either ignorant and Need Educating, or you’ve outed your as an Inappropriate, Evil Person”.
Remind me now what does DEI stand for? Oh yes, Divide, Exclude and Insult! Nobody shall have an opinion, or tell a joke that does not fall into the approved category and obliterate anything from the past that might be slightly offensive today that was perfectly normal in its time.
We keep being told jokes acceptable back then wouldn’t be acceptable now.
Says who?
Perhaps we should put it to the test.