Cult comedy sketch show Little Britain will come back from the dead for a new Brexit special, despite the show’s stars previously distancing themselves from much of its content.
Matt Lucas and David Walliams will reunite for the one-off special, which comes 12 years after the end of Little Britain.
The special episode will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4, where Little Britain started in 2000 before making the jump to TV.
The show will revisit many of Lucas and Walliams’ characters, to see how Brexit is affecting their lives.
Show will revisit Little Britain characters
Narrator Tom Baker and cast members Ruth Jones and Anthony Head are back for the special, which will revisit the characters of Dafydd, Vicky Pollard, Emily Howard, Marjorie Dawes, Mr Mann, and Lou and Andy.
Walliams tweeted: “We are back back back!”
Sioned Wiliam, commissioning editor for Radio 4 comedy, said: “Matt Lucas and David Walliams are uniquely talented writers and performers as well as one of the UK’s most loved comedy duos.
“It’s a privilege to have them back on Radio 4, where Little Britain first began almost 20 years ago.”
The Brexit themed special will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 31 October.
Blackface regret
Walliams and Lucas had previously indicated that they regret “cruel” elements of the show, which long attracted criticism for its use of blackface and jokes about minorities.
Speaking to the Big Issue in 2017, Lucas said: “If I could go back and do Little Britain again, I wouldn’t make those jokes about transvestites. I wouldn’t play black characters.
“Basically, I wouldn’t make that show now. It would upset people. We made a more cruel kind of comedy than I’d do now.
“Society has moved on a lot since then, and my own views have evolved.”
He added: “Now I think it’s lazy for white people to get a laugh just by playing black characters. My aim is to entertain, I don’t have any other agenda.
“And as I’ve got older, I’ve become more empathetic, I care more about hurting people.”
Walliams told Radio Times in 2018: “You’d definitely do it differently, because it’s a different time now.”
He said: “You’d make any comedy differently. We started working on Little Britain nearly 20 years ago… it’s hard to say specifically how it would be different.
“There’s all kinds of tolerances that change. People understand people’s predicaments more now. Maybe it’s, ‘We see this differently, we’ve got more information,’ and it would be a different type of joke.”
However, he added: “I wouldn’t rule out anything because I basically think you have to be able to make jokes about everything, everyone. Otherwise there is no point having comedy.”
Additional reporting by Press Association