[Blubatt]

I think that we live in a fairly permissive society, with many things being allowed on the airwaves that are challenging for some viewers, but are allowed to air intact. But something that has interested me are when TV channels go out of their way to censor programming that is allowed to air intact in other countries. Obviously, different countries have different rules on censorship, so for the purpose of this thread, I will limit it to programming that has, for one reason or another, been censored in the United Kingdom. I am sure an international thread for this topic would bring up a lot of stuff too.

The first two examples of censorship that I will mention pertain to The Troubles. Both The Simpsons and Star Trek: The Next Generation aired on the BBC during the 90's (When BBC had terrestrial TV rights to both shows), and there are two clips from the show that were censored for their references to Irish Nationalist Terrorism.

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[Hybrid]

I recall Channel 4 showing that Simpsons scene quite a few times in recent airings, although only in showings 6PM or later.

[JAS84]

The Simpsons episode The Cartridge Family didn't air in the UK at all when it was due to air on Sky One, so it's UK premiere ended up being on a VHS called Too Hot For TV. I wonder if the other three episodes on that tape were in some way censored on Sky too. When Channel 4 aired the episode, they trimmed off the ending where Marge secretly keeps the gun Homer had thrown in the trash.

[James2001]

BBC2 showed The Cartridge Family uncut.

Not suprised those Irish references have been cut out. The troubles are of course a very touchy subject here for good reason (certainly not something many people will appreciate being used for humour), that in my experience few Americans seem to properly understand.

[PATV Scunthorpe]

When Channel 4 aired the episode, they trimmed off the ending where Marge secretly keeps the gun Homer had thrown in the trash.

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[nwtv2003]

The BBC were generally quite good with Simpsons editing given the era and the time of the day for the episode showings. In Homer vs the 18th Amendment the edits were minimal but I think by the time the BBC first shown the episode, the Troubles were over. I do recall them omitting the line of Homer wearing a barrel on his head shouting that he was the prime minister of Ireland.

In Duffless they used to edit out Barney moving the car as he thought he saw Princess Diana, but was actually a pile of rags, but this was shortly after she died and the edit was understandable. It has long since been reinstated.

In Trash of the Titans, the word that rhymes with banker is also used, I don’t recall seeing that on TV at all. It’s certainly there on Disney+ and presumably the DVD’s.

The Cartridge Family was an odd one. I believe Sky were scheduled to show it in 1998 or so, but they never did and it was left to the BBC. One can only guess it was an editorial decision. But I think Channel 4’s editing is far worse, to the point where the episode is spoiled as a result.

If they know it’s that bad, it’s best to reschedule. The episode where Homer gets prescribed medicinal cannabis was first shown on Sky One at 10:00pm given the episodes theme. Definitely the right call in the circumstances.

Talking about adult themes, when Channel 4 and E4 had the rights to Friends, the episode titled ‘The One With The Free Porn’ was only ever shown a handful of times and after the watershed. It was always omitted from the repeat runs. Luckily its plot wasn’t crucial to the arc of that season. I’m guessing it turns up on Comedy Central and Channel 5 fine?

[James2001]

In Trash of the Titans, the word that rhymes with banker is also used, I don’t recall seeing that on TV at all.

It got left in once on Channel 4, seemingly by accident, and they got in trouble for it. I don't think Channel 4 were too bad at editing episodes before then, it seems to be that which triggered them to get very scissor happy, even cutting out things Sky used to leave in when they were bad at cutting things out in the 90s.

The next time Channel 4 showed the episode, it was part of T4, and they ran "next on" promo with the "this is where you register as a sex offender" line.... which was then cut from the episode itself (again, Sky always left that line in despite some of their bizarre cuts at the time), which just highlighted the stupidity of their edits (especially as they left in Moe's "there's always a line", which made no sense with the previous line cut.

They also cut Grampa's "but he is not a porn star" line from Simpson Tide- which again Sky never cut (I have late 90s off airs of Sky One screenings of both those episode).

Sky started putting back most of their cut content around 2000/2001.

[James2001]

I do actually remember looking at a website in the early 00s outlining the BBC and Sky cuts, though even then it hadn't been updated in years, so it was out of date (I think it only went up to season 10 on sky, and obviously even less on the BBC), and didn't aknowledge the stuff Sky had been putting back in over the previous 2 or 3 years. It did highlight just how much more Sky cut than the BBC though. There really were some strange cuts, even just saying "crap", "ass" and "sex" was enough sometimes.

I do remember one bizarre BBC cut, with Richard Nixon's "I'm not dead yet" line in one of the halloween episodes... which seemingly they cut for no reason other than the fact he had died by the time they showed it, as if people wouldn't understand it had been made a few years earlier. I'm pretty sure BBC2 left in both uses of "pissed off" in Trash Of The Titans though... but of course they cut out the W word.

Not as bad as when Family Guy was first shown in the UK though, as both Sky One and Channel 4 put it on around 6PM-ish, obviously cut to ribbons. It didn't do that well and vanished after not very long, was only when BBC2 and 3 picked it up a few years later and put it on post-watershed it really took off here.

[ACTV]

Around the early 00s, Channel 4 just seemed to use adult animation as daytime or late night filler. Futurama was of course continually shunted around and King of the Hill mostly seemed to turn up after 11pm or so. Whilst they did air the bulk of adult animation back then, the only one which aired consistently in prime time slots was South Park, presumably as that was the edgiest one around at the time.

It wasn't until The Simpsons that Channel 4 found another US adult animation to run constantly, infact South Park was completely gone from C4 by the end of 2005.

[James2001]

I think it's fair to say there's NO way they could have put South Park on pre-watershed, any editing would just make it incomprehensible! About probably about 30 seconds long. At least Futurama and King Of The Hill can go out in daytime with comparatively minimal editing, both (like The Simpsons) are only PG and 12 rated on DVD. 15 and 18 rated South Park, no way!

Though admittedly I'm suprised Family Guy was ever seen as suitable for daytime screenings either, even if it's not anywhere near as crude as South Park.