Matt Lucas has revealed that he regrets the transvestite jokes in Little Britain and wouldn't make the show today.
Speaking to The Big Issue, the comedian reflected on the hit BBC comedy that ended in 2007, explaining that if the time came to remake Little Britain, it would be a very different kind of show.
"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," he explained.
"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. There was no bad intent there – the only thing you could accuse us of was greed. We just wanted to show off about what a diverse bunch of people we could play."
Lucas added that he's become "more empathetic" as he's gotten older and he "cares more about hurting people".
"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," he noted.
Lucas's characters on Little Britain included transvestite Florence Rose, Vicky Pollard, Marjorie Dawes and "the only gay in the village" Daffyd, with Lucas reprising the role of Emily for a Comic Relief sketch in 2009.
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Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.
