An episode of the classic 1970s sitcom Fawlty Towers is set to be reinstated on a BBC-owned streaming service after the service removed it because it contained “racial slurs”.

The famous “Don’t mention the war” episode will return to the platform “in the coming days”, according to a statement from UKTV.

Guidance and warnings highlighting “potentially offensive content and language” will feature alongside the episode, it added. UKTV, which is owned by BBC Studios, previously said it had temporarily made The Germans unavailable while it carried out a review.

The decision was criticised by John Cleese, who cowrote the show and played its main character, misanthropic hotel owner Basil Fawlty.

The episode included a scene in which Major Gowen, a regular guest at the hotel, uses racist language in relation to an anecdote about the West Indies cricket team.

Cleese told The Age newspaper: “If you put nonsense words into the mouth of someone you want to make fun of, you’re not broadcasting their views, you’re making fun of them. The major was an old fossil left over from decades before. We were not supporting his views, we were making fun of them. If they can’t see that – if people are too stupid to see that – what can one say?”

He said there was a “really admirable feeling that we must make our society less discriminatory”, but said: “A lot of the people in charge now at the BBC just want to hang on to their jobs. If a few people get excited, they pacify them rather than standing their ground as they would have done 30 or 40 years ago.”

The episode first aired in 1975 and, as well as Gowen’s comments, features Cleese’s character goose-stepping around while shouting, “Don’t mention the war” in front of a group of visiting Germans and apparently being shocked at treatment in hospital by a black doctor.

Announcing the show’s reinstatement, UKTV said: “We already offer guidance to viewers across some of our classic comedy titles, but we recognise that more contextual information can be required on our archive comedy, so we will be adding extra guidance and warnings to the front of programmes to highlight potentially offensive content and language. We will reinstate Fawlty Towers once that extra guidance has been added, which we expect will be in the coming days.

“We will continue to look at what content is on offer as we always have done.”

The show’s temporary removal comes amid a re-energised debate on how best to deal with parts of well-known films and TV shows that are now deemed offensive by portions of modern audiences.

As the Black Lives Matter movement has returned to prominence following the death of George Floyd, broadcasters and streaming services have re-evaluated their content.

In an apparent reference to the removal of comedy programmes from its streaming services, Cleese had criticised BBC bosses in a series of tweets. He said that those tasked with making decisions at the corporation were “cowardly and gutless and contemptible”.

The broadcaster was run by a mixture of “marketing people and petty bureaucrats”, he added.

BBC-owned streaming service removed episode of 1970s BBC sitcom due to racial slurs

An episode of the classic 1970s sitcom Fawlty Towers is set to be reinstated on a BBC-owned streaming service after the service removed it because it contained “racial slurs”.

The famous “Don’t mention the war” episode will return to the platform “in the coming days”, according to a statement from UKTV.

Guidance and warnings highlighting “potentially offensive content and language” will feature alongside the episode, it added. UKTV, which is owned by BBC Studios, previously said it had temporarily made The Germans unavailable while it carried out a review.

The decision was criticised by John Cleese, who cowrote the show and played its main character, misanthropic hotel owner Basil Fawlty.

The episode included a scene in which Major Gowen, a regular guest at the hotel, uses racist language in relation to an anecdote about the West Indies cricket team.

Cleese told The Age newspaper: “If you put nonsense words into the mouth of someone you want to make fun of, you’re not broadcasting their views, you’re making fun of them. The major was an old fossil left over from decades before. We were not supporting his views, we were making fun of them. If they can’t see that – if people are too stupid to see that – what can one say?”

He said there was a “really admirable feeling that we must make our society less discriminatory”, but said: “A lot of the people in charge now at the BBC just want to hang on to their jobs. If a few people get excited, they pacify them rather than standing their ground as they would have done 30 or 40 years ago.”

The episode first aired in 1975 and, as well as Gowen’s comments, features Cleese’s character goose-stepping around while shouting, “Don’t mention the war” in front of a group of visiting Germans and apparently being shocked at treatment in hospital by a black doctor.

Announcing the show’s reinstatement, UKTV said: “We already offer guidance to viewers across some of our classic comedy titles, but we recognise that more contextual information can be required on our archive comedy, so we will be adding extra guidance and warnings to the front of programmes to highlight potentially offensive content and language. We will reinstate Fawlty Towers once that extra guidance has been added, which we expect will be in the coming days.

“We will continue to look at what content is on offer as we always have done.”

The show’s temporary removal comes amid a re-energised debate on how best to deal with parts of well-known films and TV shows that are now deemed offensive by portions of modern audiences.

As the Black Lives Matter movement has returned to prominence following the death of George Floyd, broadcasters and streaming services have re-evaluated their content.

In an apparent reference to the removal of comedy programmes from its streaming services, Cleese had criticised BBC bosses in a series of tweets. He said that those tasked with making decisions at the corporation were “cowardly and gutless and contemptible”.

The broadcaster was run by a mixture of “marketing people and petty bureaucrats”, he added.

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Why you can rely on the Guardian not to bow to Trump – or anyone

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask whether you could support the Guardian’s journalism as we face the unprecedented challenges of covering this administration.

As Trump himself observed: “The first term, everybody was fighting me. In this term, everybody wants to be my friend.”

He’s not entirely wrong. Already, several large corporate-owned news organizations have settled multimillion-dollar lawsuits with the president in order to protect their business interests. Meanwhile, billionaires have intervened editorially in the news outlets they own to limit potentially unfavorable coverage of the president.

The Guardian is different: we have no interest in being Donald Trump’s – or any politician’s – friend. Our allegiance as independent journalists is not to those in power but to the public. Whatever happens in the coming months and years, you can rely on the Guardian never to bow down to power, nor back down from truth.

How are we able to stand firm in the face of intimidation and threats? As journalists say: follow the money. The Guardian has neither a self-interested billionaire owner nor profit-seeking corporate henchmen pressuring us to appease the rich and powerful. We are funded by our readers and owned by the Scott Trust – whose only financial obligation is to preserve our journalistic mission in perpetuity.

What’s more, in a time of rising, democracy-threatening misinformation, we make our fiercely independent journalism free to all, with no paywall – so that everyone in the US can have access to responsible, fact-based news.