Britcom tones down

Scenes from the new series of the award-winning comedy show Little Britain have been deemed too controversial for BBC1's audience and will be axed before the programme is shown on the channel in December.

The creators of the sketch show - featuring characters such as Dafydd, "the only gay in the village", and a Women's Institute member who vomits on a vicar - have remade sections in preparation for the transfer from BBC3 to the mainstream channel.

Little Britain was created for the digital channel, whose target audience of viewers aged 24 to 35 would be unlikely to find the content overly risque.

Although the new series will be screened after the watershed, BBC1's controller, Lorraine Heggessey, is unwilling to risk offending audiences.

The stars of Little Britain - Matt Lucas and David Walliams - have already rewritten the scenes that could cause offence. "It was decided before production that it was going to BBC1 and Matt and David have had that in mind. They have made a few alterations to certain expressions and in some of the risque scenes without losing the gist," said a BBC spokeswoman.

Little Britain was voted most popular comedy at the UK National Television Awards last week. The second series opened on BBC3 with an audience of 1.8 million.

Little Britain

* Where and when: Prime, tonight 9.45pm

* What: Eastenders

* Where and when: Prime, Tues and Thurs, 8.35pm

- INDEPENDENT