'Racist' Fawlty Towers episode removed from UK streaming platform

An episode from Fawlty Towers has been axed. Photo / File

An episode of British sitcom Fawlty Towers has been removed in the latest streaming service purge amid Black Lives Matter protests.

The 1975 comedy starring John Cleese ran for two seasons, and has remained popular viewing in the modern day, available to stream in Australia on Foxtel and Stan.

But the show's most celebrated episode, titled The Germans, has suddenly been stripped from the BBC-owned UKTV service in the UK. It follows Cleese's character Basil Fawlty making war jokes and mockingly impersonating Adolf Hitler while repeatedly shouting, "Don't mention the war!" in front of a group of German hotel guests.

The move has outraged many fans on social media, who think the "cancel culture" in regards to removing historical TV shows has gone "too far".

According to the Guardian, a spokesperson for UKTV wouldn't clarify on whether the move was permanent: "We aren't commenting on individual titles. However, we regularly review our programmes and make edits, add warnings and make schedule changes where necessary to ensure that our channels meet the expectations of our audience."

The scene accused of racist depiction of Germans. Photo / File

The episode also includes a scene in which regular hotel guest Major Gowen uses strong racist language about the West Indies cricket team, although this is usually now edited out.

The removal of the episode comes as a host of controversial shows have been stripped from a range of streaming services over the past couple of days, in response to outrage over the death of unarmed black man George Floyd in police custody in the US.

Netflix removed four of Chris Lilley's TV shows for racial depictions, including the critically acclaimed Summer Heights High, while HBO Max ripped Hollywood classic, Gone With The Wind.

Popular sketch comedy shows Little Britain and Come Fly With Me were also removed from several streaming services overseas after controversy over the use of blackface characters, while The Mighty Boosh and The League Of Gentlemen were pulled from Netflix.