Jumping up and down over pogo pope

Think of the Pope for a second. What do you see? Perhaps it's the late John Paul II lying peacefully in his coffin. Or his successor, Pope Benedict XVI, waving regally from St Peter's Basilica.

Now hold that thought and imagine this instead: a short, fat Pope is bouncing around the room on a pogo stick, squawking like a Ritalin kid on helium.

He is so filthy he's surrounded by buzzing flies. He's stupid - very stupid. Are you offended?

Plenty of people in Britain are. Popetown, the animated series featuring this crude characterisation of the head of the Catholic church, was commissioned by the BBC but dropped from the schedule last year after more than 6000 Catholics complained before they had even seen it. And it's about to get its global premiere on New Zealand music channel C4.

"I hope God has a sense of humour because I am a pretty good boy and don't feel I should go to hell for too long anyway," says Popetown's French creator, Phil Ox, who the other day received an email telling him he was evil.

Ox and his co-creator Alan Marke knew Popetown would be controversial but are adamant it is no more edgy than Father Ted or Southpark.

Centred around Father Nicholas, an idealistic young priest who lives in a fake Vatican City with a group of backstabbing cardinals and a Pope with a mental age of about 7, it features the voices of Jewish American comedienne Ruby Wax, The Office's Mackenzie Crook and model Jerry Hall.

Although it is primarily a slapstick comedy - the Pope's head literally falls off in one episode - like most adult animations, there is a subtext that suggests the creators would rather poke fun at the establishment than anyone's beliefs.

In one episode, the Pope goes missing so the priest finds an identical substitute - only this guy's a Jew. In another, the Cardinals organise a football match against the Buddhists.

But you won't get paedophile jokes - "too stupid and untrue" says Ox - just sly gags about celibacy, cultural stereotypes and how the church spends its money. Ox is more concerned that the frequent presence of the Japanese tourists will offend.

When he approached the BBC with the idea for Popetown 4 1/2 years ago, the network "loved it", pouring an estimated 2.4 million ($6.15 million) into the project.

BBC3 controller Stuart Murphy described the show at the time as "a risk ... inventive and surprising". But when it was finished he had another view: "There is a fine judgment line in comedy between the scurrilously funny and the offensive."

Several Catholic leaders backed him up. "Many Catholics view this as an irreverent, gratuitous and publicly funded attack on their faith," said Bishop of Motherwell Joseph Devine.

In New Zealand, the Catholic Church is reserving judgment until the show premieres on Wednesday but already Popetown has stirred plenty of interest, with national newspaper NZ Catholic featuring an article on the show as its lead story.

Says Catholic Communications director Lindsay Freer, "We like to think we have the ability to laugh at ourselves and make fun at ourselves in ways that are appropriate. On the other hand we often ask the question, why is it that Christianity, and Catholicism in particular, is an okay subject for satire when other faiths, such as Islam and so on, would not be considered to be?"

She says Popetown will offend if it sends up the things that are sacred to the church. "And certainly the Pope is considered to be sacred."

Ox, who claims he was born and raised Catholic, argues that British comedy has always had a tradition of mocking the church, and that Popetown is not about making fun of the actual Pope.

"Alice in Wonderland is not a direct reflection of the Queen of England. It is not really even the Vatican, it is fantasy land. At the end of the day it's only comedy and it's only a cartoon show on TV. If you don't like it, just switch off the TV."

C4 manager Andrew Szusterman, who bought the show before the BBC reversed its decision to screen it, says there's nothing sacrilegious about Popetown - if there were, he wouldn't have bought it.

"It's just satire. It's about laughing at ourselves and the different religions that we are around the world and not treating it so seriously. Perhaps we're just living in very PC times."

Or perhaps not. Since C4 signed on the dotted line, Popetown has been picked up by networks in Europe and Australia and Ox is confident it will be sold to networks in the US. That's if he doesn't go to hell first.

* Popetown, C4, 9.30pm, Wednesday.