Tim Davie

Russell Brand's old BBC shows slammed as 'completely unacceptable' by Tim Davie

Russell Brand's old BBC shows have been slammed as "completely unacceptable" by BBC Director General Tim Davie.

Tim Davie: comedy must not be neutered by a fear

In an age of division and disinformation, the Corporation has a duty to ensure all voices and views are heard, the director-general writes.

The team behind BBC2's The Mash Report have known since November that the show, hosted by Nish Kumar, was not going to be recommissioned by the Beeb, but the news only became public last week, when the Sun ran the story under the headline "Nish Mash Bosh".

The show's fourth series - which was scrambled together in April last year, so after the start of lockdown - had enjoyed its best ratings yet. The [o]BBC[/c] was happy about how it had done (it had outperformed average viewing figures for a 10pm slot on BBC2) and even started making noise about promoting it from one seires a year to two.

Then, in September, Tim Davie arrived as director-general, accompanied by excited noises in the Mail and Telegraph about a coming crackdown on ribald, leftie comedy, and the wind changed. After a long silence, the Beeb decided it couldn't stretch to two series a year, so would opt instead not to have any.

The Mash Report - which incidentally was just about the only TV comedy to feature a right-wing comedian, Geoff Norcott, almost every week - has already had interest from other broadcasters, meaning there's every chance it could end up as another Bake Off. But at least Davie's fans in the press are happy.

Comedy just needs to be funny; nothing more to it

After Tim Davie's comments about left-wing comedy on the BBC there has been a slew of opinions from comedians about what comedy should and shouldn't be. A common theme is the ridiculous notion that it must "punch up" and attack people in authority in order to function as comedy. Punching up is a mantra spoken in reverential whispers by people who cannot accept the existence of laughter beyond their own sensibilities. In my experience people who hold hard and fast rules about comedy tend not to be very funny. The only requirement of comedy is simple: make someone laugh.

Stewart Lee: The divided land of 'woke' and Tory

The Daily Telegraph, a part-work of Conservative press releases given away free with Buxton water at selected branches of WH Smith, attempted to kickstart a culture skirmish, saying "senior sources at the BBC" claimed Tim Davie would be clamping down on "leftwing" comedies.

There's no war on left-wing comedy, says new BBC boss

New BBC director-general Tim Davie has dismissed 'nonsense' and 'ridiculous' speculation that he wants to shut down left-wing comedy. However, he did say he wanted to 'to nurture brilliant writers from all kind of perspectives' and hear a wider variety of viewpoints - which might suggest allowing more pro-Tory, pro-Brexit gags if he felt they weren't sufficiently represented on air.

With comedy, I'd rather be offended than bored

New director-general Tim Davie will reportedly steer TV comedy to the right to correct years of perceived anti-Tory bias. But it was Brexit, not the BBC, that put a spanner in British humour.

Shappi Khorsandi on the BBC and right-wing comedy

High on Tim Davie's list of shows deemed 'too left-wing' is Mock The Week. When I was on the show, I was told I must do my 'Iranian material' - that didn't feel left-wing to me.

BBC's new boss threatens to axe Left-wing comedy shows

New Director-General Tim Davie believes the BBC's comedy output is seen as too one-sided, and unfairly biased against the Tories, Donald Trump and Brexit.