[Humphrey Hacker]

I'd be surprised if Gold are censoring given I've seen UKTV show Gavin and Stacey well before the watershed and have swear words intact.

The irony behind using a watershed or PIN numbers for things like political incorrectness or references to disgraced personalities is that younger people are less likely to notice the issue. I'm sure there are younger people who have no idea who the likes of Savile and Harris are. Also, I grew up watching Tom & Jerry having no idea that the Mammy character was a racist caricature, nor did I make any connection between blackface and a character's face being blackened by an explosion.

I've always said WB's approach to its presentation of "questionable" content is best. Present it uncensored and unedited with a disclaimer that the representations are wrong, but that it's also wrong to pretend those representations didn't exist... Though quite how the BBC would word such a disclaimer to justify Rolf Harris appearing in an episode of My Family, I'm not quite sure.

Gold do censor. There's at least one AYBS episode where a couple of lines are cut (the episode surrounding a greek wedding). Even some episodes of Last Of The Summer Wine have been cut mainly of Compo sticking 2 fingers up at people.

Doubtless many younger viewers don't have a clue who Saville and Harris are (and that's a good thing) but they will inevitably ask questions or do their own research.

I didn't know about the "mammy" character being racist either I'm smiling now remembering her shouting "Thomas".

WB's approach is spot on. Its an admission that "things were different back then"

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

George Santayana
1863-1952