Spike Milligan

Spike Milligan has been purged but Muppets aren't woke

Forty-five years after it first aired on television, all five series of The Muppet Show are now available on Disney+. The series - which is known for its madcap comedy skits and celebrity guest stars - has lost none of its magic, like a healthy wallop of felt-based nostalgia. All the gang are together: Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Swedish Chef, Gonzo. (And it's the gang at their very best, when they were controlled by the genius of Jim Henson - before Disney got its mousey, corporate claws into them.)

But noticeable by their absence are some of the Muppets' celebrity guests, including Chris Langham - an understandable omission from the family-focused streaming platform - and Spike Milligan, both of whose episodes are missing from the Disney+ collection.

The Ghost of Peter Sellers review

This documentary tells the mesmerizing story of a horrendous film shoot and the psychological flotsam left in its wake.

Ten comics who donned blackface

Keith Lemon creator Leigh Francis last week apologised for mimicking black celebrities including Michael Jackson and Craig David on Bo' Selecta! 'I've been talking to some people,' he said in a tearful statement in the wake of the intensifying Black Lives Matter campaign. 'I didn't realise how offensive it was back then.' But he's far from the only comedian to flirt with blackface, long after its racism became apparent.

Lenny Henry has experienced the marginalised and often-forgotten role of people of colour throughout his lengthy career. In this series, he examines Britain's history of multicultural comedy, beginning with sitcoms. Taking aim at Spike Milligan's deeply offensive 1969 blackface show Curry & Chips, Henry goes on to show how representation slowly increased to include his own show The Fosters before ending with Michaela Coel's recent hit, Chewing Gum.

BBC releases some historic comedy moments

The BBC is making hundreds of clips from its archive available to watch on a new website. Comics featured include Spike Milligan, Pete and Dud, Kenny Everett and Billy Connolly.

How Spike Milligan's Q paved the way for Monty Python

Just as with Python, on Q anyone in Britain with any kind of authority was told exactly how Milligan felt about them.

Letters by Sellers and Milligan turn air blue

They were never known for their sense of decorum and linguistic restraint, but a cache of previously unpublished letters by Spike Milligan and Peter Sellers proves - if there were ever any doubt - their humour was not for the fainthearted.

Rob Auton on what matters to him

Rob Auton on Bob Dylan, Spike Milligan and Tom Waits.

Spike Milligan: Irish contributor to British comedy

Taking a look at the life of Spike Milligan on what would have been his 101st birthday.