Little Britain is officially returning to terrestrial television as part of the 20th anniversary of its premiere episode.
The sketch comedy series, produced by Matt Lucas and David Walliams, debuted on BBC Three in 2003 before moving to BBC One due to its success.
Following the first broadcast of its final episode in 2006, the series returned for additional specials on both TV and radio leading up to The Big Night In in 2020.
Later that year, the BBC removed the episode from iPlayer and Netflix, citing ‘things have changed’ in respect to the series’ usage of blackface.
While it returned to iPlayer in 2022, Netflix retained its restriction on the series; nevertheless, it looks that Freeview station That’s TV will be reintroducing it.
A statement read: ‘That’s TV has announced that it will broadcast all three seasons of Little Britain as part of its festive Christmas and New Year line-up.’
The first episode will premiere on December 16 as part of the channel’s Saturday night lineup and will run until well into 2024.
In 2017, Lucas, 49, said that if he were to remake the series, there were some jokes in it that he would not say in this day and age.
‘If I could go back and do Little Britain again, I wouldn’t make those jokes about transvestites. I wouldn’t play black characters,’ he told the Big Issue.
The former Bake Off host continued: ‘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.’
That’s TV’s head of programming, Kris Vaiksalu, said: ‘When [Little Britain] hit screens 20 years ago it quickly became a cultural phenomenon.
‘On this anniversary, it’s extra special for us to be able to show Little Britain every night as part of our Christmas week comedy festival.’
Timothée Chalamet, who is known to be a ‘huge fan’ of the comedy series, may be watching the repeat broadcasts.
While filming Wonka with the American-French actor, Lucas admitted his fondness for the series and even made amazing impressions of the characters, according to Lorraine.
‘He’s been doing Marjorie Dawes impressions,’ the Vicky Pollard actor revealed, but also admitted that it was ‘really weird’ to know the Dune star was a fan.
Little Britain is available to stream on iPlayer.
