There ’s a reason why the BBC , Britain ’s mostly independent but publicly - funded telecasting and wireless broadcaster , is still forebode “ Auntie ” : Like a maiden auntie , the ill drop dead , the BBC always thinks it knows what ’s best for its audience . The web acquire its role as an arbitrator of taste , moral , ethics , and standards very seriously . And as such , the BBC does n’t show just anything — for good example , chat show presenters are n’t allowed to fume cigaret , and depictions of drug or inebriant are not earmark on children ’s programming without a really good reason .
However , what the BBC decides to ban or not permit is , well , sometimes a footling weird . We ’ve already coveredwhat Sung dynasty the BBC has ban ; here are some other eldritch thing once banish by their airwaves .
1. Airing anything from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.
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Back in the former solar day of video , programme both in the US and the UK was n’t like a tap — you could n’t just change state on the TV at any hour of the day or night and expect there to be something to watch . But even as the number of viewable hours increased in the 1950s to around 50 60 minutes a workweek , mostly sate up the eventide and early afternoon hours , there was one hour that was sacred : Between 6 and 7 at night . This was the so - called “ toddlers ’ cease-fire , ” a menstruation of TV silence just after baby ’s programming , which ran from 5 to 6 p.m. , ended . turn off broadcasts for that hour pass on parents ( well , mothers ) the opportunity to get their youngster to bed without TV as a beguilement , advocates claimed .
This was all well and good if there was only one broadcaster . But in 1955 , the late launched ITV , a competitor channel that lived off advertizing tax revenue , complained that the hour ’s quiet was an hour they were n’t make money . This , they claimed , gave the BBC , which was fund by collecting licensing fees from the public , an unjust reward .
After a bit of regime back and forth , the BBC ended thetoddlers ’ truceon February 16 , 1957 , when it ran a five - minute newsworthiness broadcast follow by an innovative new teen show , The Six - Five Special , on Saturday night . The show was an early attempt at the kind of outdoor stage programming that would later overlook teen viewership , featuring hip rock candy n ’ peal and other stuff that the kids were into in those days . The first show kick off with the presenter saying , “ Welcome aboard The Six - Five Special . We ’ve get almost a hundred computed axial tomography jumping here , some really coolheaded character to give us the flatulence , so just get on with it and have a ball . ” Say what now ?
2.StarTrek
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Four episodes of the original series ofStar Trekwerenot aired on the BBCbecause , according to the Beeb , “ they all dealt most unpleasantly with the already unpleasant subjects of madness , torture , sadism and disease . ” The episodes in enquiry were “ Whom Gods Destroy , ” “ Miri , ” “ The Empath , ” and “ Plato ’s Stepchildren " ( which sport one of the first interracial kisses on television ) . It was n’t the last clip the Final Frontier ran afoul of British appreciation ; in 1988 , the BBC initially refused to run a middling gruesome installment ofThe Next Generationcalled “ Conspiracy , ” which featured exotic parasites occupy over Starfleet functionary ’ brains ( the episode later ran in an emended form ) . Another sequence , “ The High Ground , ” which dealt with terrorist act and made a glint reference to Irish nationalism , was also drop from the initial run , but re - aired in 2007 .
3. Alien life
Speaking of the Final Frontier — in November 2012 , superstar physicist Brian Cox said that he and his BBC Two serial , Stargazing Live , were forestall from investigating spirit on a recently discovered major planet because BBC heads believe making contact with alien wouldviolate health and safety road map . Cox had planned on designate a large telescope at Threapleton Holmes B , the planet in question , to listen for signs of life story , but the Beeb put the kibosh on the plans . Cox was incredulous ; he severalize BBC ’s Radio 6 : " [ I said ] , you intend we would detect the first hint that there is other intelligent life in the macrocosm beyond Earth , live on airwave , and you ’re worried about the health and safety of it ? … It was unbelievable . They did have guideline . Compliance ! "
4. Kettles
The BBC ’s pupil quiz show , University Challenge , refused to tolerate a team from Goldsmiths College in London to use a tympanum — as in the matter you churn water for tea in — as their mascot , on the grounds that it was anovertly political substance . Though the kettle may look like an innocent kitchen appliance , in this linguistic context , students were using it to protest the London constabulary ’s “ kettling ” protestors during demonstration , a practice that involves corralling or containing “ unruly ” sales demonstrator .
5. Hypnotism
Well , sort of : The BBC does n’t expressly ban mesmerizer from its radio and television set broadcasts , but it does require that “ Any marriage offer to sport a demonstration of hypnosis must be referred to a senior editorial chassis or , for independents , to the commission editor program . ” So you may do it , but only with approval . That ’s because the UK’sHypnotism Act of 1952requires that any demo of hypnotism for public amusement be licensed , and prohibits any demonstrations on people under the eld of 18 ; the Act halt from vexation about the safety of point hypnosis . The Act also states that the pig can lawfully move into a premise if they believe some wrongful hypnosis is going on . So , you know , watch out .
6. Communist folksingers
Courtesy of Last . Fm
According to MI5 documents released in 2006 , the BBC was a hotbed of anti - communistic paranoia during and after World War II — so much so that it banned that likes ofBritish folksinger Ewan MacColland his theatre manufacturer wife , Joan Littlewood ( MacColl , by the way , was also not allowed to get into the U.S. owe to his red sympathies ) . But folksingers were n’t the only “ subversives ” the Beeb feared : The Guardianreported that MI5 had an officer resident at the BBC who vetted all editorial applicants from the 1930s through the end of the Cold War . Those who were deemed leery had their files marked with a green ticket , called a “ Christmas tree , ” the meaning of which was only known to a few higher - ups .
7. Bananas! And picking up sausages with tongs!
The BBC made headlines ( in theme that like to make merriment of the BBC ) in January afterbananas were “ banned”at its new home office in London ; according to a spokesman , the “ Bachelor of Arts in Nursing ” was really more of a thoughtfulness for a staff member who has a severe allergy to the xanthous yield . The funny part , however , was that certain field in the newsroom now sported sign featuring a banana with a big hybrid through it .
In other health and safety news , The Mirrorreported on April 10that BBC employees are “ reek ” over fresh regulation in the canteen preventing them from picking up hot blimp with pair of tongs or urinate their own toast . One anonymous Beeb doer tell the newspaper publisher , “ I was secernate I could n’t nibble up two sausages with the tongs to put in a paradiddle as I might burn off myself . The sausages were hardly sizzle hot but I resent that someone in a pinny [ apron ] can tell me I ca n’t take care of myself . ”
8. Sacha Baron Cohen (as the ‘Dictator,’ at least)
Courtesy of Collider
Extreme satirist Sacha Baron Cohen , the genius behind the wiggle - inducing Ali G , Borat , Bruno , and The Dictator , claimed in May 2012 that he , as his Dictator persona , was “ banned ” from the BBC . false , said the BBC . " There is no ban,“a BBC spokesman order the BBC(no , really , he did ) , " but our chat shows expand on the unwritten give-and-take between guests and the presenter , something you just do n’t get when people come on as characters . We ’d love to have Sacha on as himself . ”
