MPs are calling on the BBC to pull Armando Iannucci?s new comedy show because it features spoof footage of Tony Blair being assassinated and terrorists crashing an airliner into Big Ben. The politicians, and the Daily Mail, are outraged over doctored clips in an Oscar-style 'Terrorism Awards' sketch that features his new BBC Two series, Time Trumpet.
As well as the al-Qaeda attack and a picture of Blair with a bullet hole in his head after being 'shot as he slept beside his wife', the sketch also features a Hamas bombing in Tel Aviv.
Andrew Dismore, Labour MP for Hendon, told the Daily Mail it was 'absolutely sick.' 'At a time when people are dying for real on both sides in the Middle East, to try to make fun of what's going on is the worst thing imaginable,? he said. 'Nothing is more sick than attempting to make a joke out of people who are dying. It's beyond the pale. The BBC governors should do something to stop this.'
David Davies, Tory MP for Monmouth, added: 'It shows a distinct lack of taste and could even exacerbate the suffering of the July 7 bombing victims. I can't see much comedy value in this at a time when all of us are at risk from terrorism.'
The BBC defended the sketches, which a spokesman said needed to be seen 'in the context of the whole series', which starts tonight. 'It is a satire set in the year 2031, looking back at the events and people of today. This particular [terrorism] episode tries to play tricks with visuals and make viewers question what is real and what is fake. Iannucci is a leading satirist and he's pushing the envelope. The scenarios are so ludicrous that viewers will immediately recognise them as satire.'
MPs are calling on the BBC to pull Armando Iannucci?s new comedy show because it features spoof footage of Tony Blair being assassinated and terrorists crashing an airliner into Big Ben. The politicians, and the Daily Mail, are outraged over doctored clips in an Oscar-style 'Terrorism Awards' sketch that features his new BBC Two series, Time Trumpet.
As well as the al-Qaeda attack and a picture of Blair with a bullet hole in his head after being 'shot as he slept beside his wife', the sketch also features a Hamas bombing in Tel Aviv.
Andrew Dismore, Labour MP for Hendon, told the Daily Mail it was 'absolutely sick.' 'At a time when people are dying for real on both sides in the Middle East, to try to make fun of what's going on is the worst thing imaginable,? he said. 'Nothing is more sick than attempting to make a joke out of people who are dying. It's beyond the pale. The BBC governors should do something to stop this.'
David Davies, Tory MP for Monmouth, added: 'It shows a distinct lack of taste and could even exacerbate the suffering of the July 7 bombing victims. I can't see much comedy value in this at a time when all of us are at risk from terrorism.'
The BBC defended the sketches, which a spokesman said needed to be seen 'in the context of the whole series', which starts tonight. 'It is a satire set in the year 2031, looking back at the events and people of today. This particular [terrorism] episode tries to play tricks with visuals and make viewers question what is real and what is fake. Iannucci is a leading satirist and he's pushing the envelope. The scenarios are so ludicrous that viewers will immediately recognise them as satire.'
Good on the BBC for not giving in to these moaning arseholes! It's meant to be shocking and controversial for gawd's sake!
What a bunch of no sense of humour arsewipes. That's wicked funny and I'm glad they didn't cave to those pathetic whiners. I wish it was shown here because I'd be sure to watch it. That clip alone was just brilliant.
The BBC has been accused of lacking ?backbone? after pulling a controversial episode of Time Trumpet. The corporation had previously defended Armando Iannucci?s satire when it was attacked over its ?sick? and ?disgraceful? content, including mock footage of a plane crashing into the Houses of Parliament, below, and a photograph of an assassinated Tony Blair.
When the Daily Mail and MPs raised the protest earlier this month, the BBC said: ?The scenarios are so ludicrous that viewers will immediately recognise them as satire?. However, the corporation dropped Thursday?s edition focussing on terrorism, and containing some of the controversial sketches, from the BBC Two schedules.
They said ?Our concern, at this state of heightened alert, is for viewers who do not know what to expect and misunderstand the show.? But the Independent On Sunday?s media diary column today asked: ?Is the BBC backing down in the face of terrorism? What backbone.? And Iannucci used his Observer column to complain about media hysteria and hypersensitivity about terrorism.
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So much for praising the BBC! This is just pathetic...
Dear John, wish you weren't here Armando Iannucci
Sunday August 20, 2006
The Observer
In a week in which it's been officially terrifying to fly, a remarkable number of us have been encouraging politicians to do so. Demands have been soaring for Tony Blair to fly back immediately from his holidays and for John Prescott to fly off on one. I never thought I'd sympathise with the politician's lot, but the hysterics of the past few days have played havoc with logic.
First, John Reid announces a terrorist plot has been foiled, so everyone demands Blair flies home to 'take charge' of the situation. What situation? There isn't one. Nothing has happened! That was the point of the announcement: there's no national emergency because the emergency has been prevented. But no; there isn't a crisis and our Prime Minister should come home to not deal with it.
Meantime, Reid is in charge of co-ordinating our response to the lack of atrocity. But where's Prescott? everyone demands. If there's a national non-emergency, surely he's the man best qualified to not handle it? A day goes by. A day in which, if the terrorists had had their way - which they haven't - we would all be dead by now, though we're not, yet Prescott fiddles at work while Heathrow burns, possibly, if things had gone very badly, in contrast to how they actually went. Eventually, though, Prescott appears and visits airports that haven't been crashed on and speaks to people who haven't been blown up. He speaks to the nation and assures us that the emergency that hasn't happened is now over. What a funny man, we agree, and insist he should go away. Though not on holiday. Or, if it is a holiday, not one that involves playing croquet at a country house. For if Prescott does go on holiday, we shout, it should be one in which he stays in his work clothes and his workplace and does lots of work.
Meantime, Reid cancels his holiday to stay at home and look busy dealing with the aftermath of the appalling scenes that never happened. He's a serious man, for serious times. Even though it's officially still the Silly Season.
Then it didn't happen again ...
If a terrorist attack had happened, we would probably not have believed it anyway. That's because in the current climate, an old lady simply has to bend down in a bus to pick up a dropped 5p for this to be initially reported on all media outlets as 'BREAKING NEWS: MAJOR DISTURBANCE ON BRITISH TRANSPORT. TERRORIST ATTACK IMMINENT IN WHICH HUNDREDS ARE EXPECTED TO DIE'. Without denying that undoubtedly there are real terrorists out there determined to blow some of us up on something that gets us from A to B, I do wonder if they have to bother with the blowing-up part, given how terrified we've become simply at the thought of anyone behaving slightly oddly.
For example, a woman on a flight to Washington became claustrophobic and went into hysterics. She turned out to have a jar of Vaseline and some matches, but this was long after posts were put up on news websites, including the BBC's, that she 'had a note from al-Qaeda'. Twenty-four hours later, the 'note' was no longer mentioned. It had never existed. On Thursday night, the BBC's news website was occupied by a blaring font announcing breaking news that a woman 'of Pakistani origin' boarding a flight in Huntington, West Virginia, was discovered to have some liquids in her bag that had tested positive as explosives. The airport was evacuated, while BBC experts said these tests were sensitive and foolproof. Next day, it turns out to have been a mistake and the woman was innocent.
Are the witnesses to these incidents, and the reporters who report them, just as deranged as the suspects at the centre of them? It's at times like this, I remember that The War Against Terror spells TWAT.
... but it sounded as if it had...
It would be an interesting case study to take a few harmless headlines and go back a few days and find out how they were first reported on the internet. 'A-Level Pass Rate at Record 96 per cent' probably started off on some website as 'MILLIONS OF CHILDREN AT RISK FROM IMMINENT TERROR IN THE POST'; England beating Greece 4-0 at Old Trafford was possibly initially posted as 'ATTACK IMMINENT IN MANCHESTER AREA'; and last week's official classification by international astronomers of the heavenly bodies Charon, Ceres and 2003 UB313 as planets was first put up as 'THREE SUSPICIOUS SPEEDING OBJECTS DETECTED ON FLIGHTPATH IN THE SKY REFUSE TO SLOW DOWN', while the Archbishop of Canterbury's Whitsun sermon was probably first posted as 'WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE'.
... and all of us covered it
One thing that's adding to the terror is the fact that our mobile phones turn us into instant reporters. Now we're able to record anything that happens as it happens, we become walking sensationalisers. Since I reckon there's no way to stop this, I might as well join in. That's why I carry around with me a plastic sign that reads 'BREAKING NEWS' which I hold under my face whenever someone points their mobile at me.
? Armando's Time Trumpet: War on Terror episode was replaced last week with another episode due to the current climate of fear. It should be on BBC2 this Thursday, if everyone's calmed down.
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What a great article.
It's good to know that they do plan to show it after all...
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