New service will try to omit dated shows
New streaming service BritBox will not include some shows after deeming them “inappropriate” for modern audiences.
The new subscription-based service launched in the UK last week with the aim to rival streaming giants such as Netflix and Amazon by offering a wide array of British shows.
However, some shows have not been put on the service because they contain content that is deemed racist or unacceptable, such as Till Death Do Us Part, Love Thy Neighbour and It Ain’t Half Hot Mum.
Till Death Do Us Part includes the bigoted character Alf Garnett, while Love Thy Neighbour features a West Indian couple who move next door to a white English couple.
Episodes of shows such as Only Fools and Horses and Fawlty Towers, which could be considered inappropriate by modern audiences, will come with offensive language warnings.
“[BritBox] is a selection [of shows],” ITV executive Reemah Sakaan told The Guardian. “We also recomply everything that goes on to BritBox [with modern TV viewing standards]. There’s also the ability to create bespoke warnings around key programming.”
BritBox
An ITV spokesperson added: “We’ve carefully selected a wide range of the very best in British programming which will appeal to viewers in 2019.”
Following the launch of BritBox, a spokesperson confirmed that the “vast majority” of British shows will disappear from Netflix within the next 12 months.
As most BBC and ITV shows have been licences to Netflix and Amazon on rolling 12 month contracts, those shows will move to BritBox once those have expired.
ITV group communications and corporate affairs director Paul Moore confirmed that shows such as The Office will “be coming back home next spring”, though co-productions between the UK channels and services such as Netflix or Amazon, such as Bodyguard, “can’t come back home”.
