The good ship censor

There's panic at the BBC (where I work, I should disclose), and strangely it's not about the fact that the tory press are trying to brainwash the masses into closing down the last great global British institution, or at least "scaling back" its activities to "core broadcasting".

The fretting is over the potential for offence to be taken by the letter-to-Ofcom-writing, Daily-Mail-reading, rotting underlay that treads amongst a worryingly large portion of British society.

As a result of this preoccupation, "compliance" departments in the Beeb have been tightened up to such an extent that producers are worried about whether they can film in biscuit factories for fear of offending someone with the phrase "chocolate hobnob".

Now, there's a danger here that I could start sounding like the "it's political correctness gawn mad" brigade, so let me be clear that I think censorship is perfectly justified where real offence may be taken, and especially where there is potential for inciting hatred towards a minority.

But the recent climate of fear at the Beeb is not simply about a liberal tendency for political correctness. It has been born out of, amongst other things, the Sachsgate affair last year. What a shame that what was essentially a childish prank by two talented but over-confident comedians, stupidly left unedited on a radio show, should lead to what may be the end of the truly 'risqué' British comedy for which Britain is loved. Where would Monty Python be if the dead parrot sketch had been censored for trivialising the death of an animal?

Some of the best British humour comes close to breaching what Rob Newman would call the "hymen of respectability", and that's a risk we just have to take if creativity is to thrive in our land. When, on Mock the Week, Frankie Boyle was asked to think of things the Queen is least likely to say, I laughed out loud at his suggestion of "I'm so old my pussy is haunted". So what if some old lady was offended? She shouldn't have been watching Mock the Week in the first place.

On the other hand, I didn't laugh when Jeremy Clarkson said on Top Gear that lorry drivers have a hard job "driving and murdering prostitutes", referring to the Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe. But that's because what he said is clearly not funny. I'm not so worried that it maliciously stereotypes a section of society and hints at a snobbish distaste of working class men. It's just that, along with his lack of talent, style and sense of self, in my view Jeremy Clarkson just isn't funny.

I'm not sure where I'm going with this, so I'll just leave you with another borderline offensive joke which might not have made it on television today due to this year's BBC compliance policy: Sue Barker interviewing Wales rugby union coach Mike Ruddock, "Obviously you will be hoping to successfully defend the Six Nations Championship with your star player Gavin Henson ... as long as you can keep him out of Church."