Keeping Up Appearances slapped with ‘woke’ warning over gay jokes

KEEPING Up Appearances has been given a ’woke warning’ on streaming service BritBox over a series of jokes mocking immigrants and the LGBT community. 

The 90s series, which ran from 1990 to 1995, follows highly-strung social climber Hyacinth Bucket and her long-suffering husband as she attempts to appear posher than she actually is. 

Iconically, she insists her surname is pronounced ‘bouquet’ instead of ‘Bucket’ to sound nicer, and tries to distance herself from her siblings. 

But, according to Daily Star, several scenes contain jokes that have now been labelled as ‘containing language and attitudes of the era that may offend’. 

This includes mocking a Polish person and questioning their right to live in the UK, and referring to a man as “quent as a £4 note”. 

A spokesman for the channel told the paper: “We review and refresh BritBox’s programme catalogue on an ongoing basis. 

“Programming on the service that ­contains potentially sensitive language or attitudes of their era has carried appropriate warnings since our launch in November 2019, to ensure the right guidance is in place for viewers who are choosing to watch on demand.”

Keeping Up Appearances joins a growing list of archival sitcoms that have been slapped with a warning – including notably Fawlty Towers for their ‘don’t mention the War’ episode.

The Good Life, which aired in the 70s, has also been given a warning for the presence of a ‘racist’ Golly badge. 

Use of ‘yellow face’ and racial slurs mean older episodes of Doctor Who have also been given a pre-episode warning.

BBC iPlayer have also posted a ‘woke warning’ on The Royle Family, with a small note underneath the play button stating it contains discriminatory language on an episode where Jim Royle refers to Changing Rooms’ Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen as a ‘nancy boy’.

Keeping Up Appearances is available on BritBox.