BBC in new Thatcher row, but this time it’s Maggie not Carol
THE BBC was caught in a fresh storm yesterday after two comedians made offensive remarks about Baroness Thatcher on prime-time television.
The crude comments, on the quiz show QI, prompted hundreds of complaints from viewers.
The row comes just days after Lady Thatcher’s daughter Carol was sacked by the BBC for likening a black tennis player to a “golliwog” in a private backs tage conversation.
Jo Brand, who stormed out of The One Show green room when Carol Thatcher made her remarks last month, caused her own furore on QI by comparing Lady Thatcher to a personal hair remover.
She said: “It was great, actually, when she became Lady Thatcher, because then she sounded like a device for removing pubic hair.”
The host, Stephen Fry, laughed and said: “It’s true. Absolutely. The Brazilian Lady Thatcher.”
Later in the episode, when a doctored picture of the former prime minister was shown with her mouth and eyes altered, Phill Jupitus pointed and shouted: “Burn the witch!”
The BBC admitted 200 viewers had lodged complaints about the programme, which was shown on Friday night at 9pm.
And senior Tories accused the BBC of bias.
Former party chairman Lord Tebbit said: “The truth is the BBC doesn’t know that it is biased. Lady Thatcher has been treated like this by the BBC for the past 30 years.”
Philip Davies, MP for Shipley in West Yorkshire, said: “Jo Brand’s got a brass neck to be indignant and outraged about what Carol Thatcher says in private but feels she can be as offensive as she likes in public.” Jo Brand and Jupitus refused to comment on the row yesterday.
But a BBC spokeswoman said: “This episode of QI was recorded in June last year and bears no relation to recent events.”
The corporation has had 3,300 complaints about its decision to sack Carol Thatcher.
