WI forces snip to comedy sketch

The Women's Institute has forced Little Britain to change one of its sketches.

18:00 31 December 2004

BBC show Little Britain has been forced to make changes to one of its comedy sketches after threats of legal action by the Women's Institute.

The sketch, which aired on BBC3, showed conservative middle aged Judy and Maggie at a jam-judging contest, throwing up at the discovery of having tasted products made by gay or ethnic minorities.

The institute claimed offence to the sketch, as the characters were standing in front of a banner with a logo similar to that of the Women's Institute.

Viewers to the show's repeat on BBC1 or Little Britain's Series 2 DVD collection, due next year, will now see a logo for the fictional Women's Association instead. Changes were made to the show after the network received complaints from the Women's Institute.

The institute's chairman said that while the organisation is happy to laugh at itself, they felt the sketch portrayed them as "potentially racist and narrow minded", a stereotype they are trying to overturn.

"We complained about the use of our name and logo. People have to have permission to use our logo and the BBC didn't have it," the chairman told the Daily Mirror.

The BBC said it did not intend to "cause any offence".