“That is something we should have done but didn’t do back then.”

By James Hibbs

Published: Thursday, 21 December 2023 at 10:02 AM


Matt Lucas has confirmed that he and David Walliams are working on a reboot of Little Britain, but said that it will be “different in many ways” to the original.

Speaking to The Sun, Lucas said: “We are talking about how we can have diverse talent on screen and in the writers’ room and conceive it as something which is just not about me and David playing absolutely everyone.

“That is something we should have done but didn’t do back then.”

He continued: “But we were making the show at the same time as many other people who were doing what we were doing and had that approach.”

The original series of Little Britain premiered 20 years ago, in 2003, and was a mockumentary sketch comedy show narrated by Tom Baker.

David Walliams and Matt Lucas in Little Britain hugging, looking into camera
David Walliams and Matt Lucas in Little Britain.
BBC

The series, which ran until 2006, saw Lucas and Walliams playing exaggerated parodies of British people.

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The show was recently the subject of headlines when Ofcom research showed that several respondents were offended by one of the show’s sketches, with some labelling it “explicitly racist and outdated”.

Lucas told The Sun of recent responses to the show: “Because some people are upset about what we do, or what we have done, out of respect to those people I don’t talk about it publicly because I don’t want to cause further upset to people who were upset. I totally accept there are different opinions.

“I accept people feel very differently from others and I respect everyone’s opinion from wherever they come from on this subject. I see things differently now to how we did. Things have changed and I respect that.”

It was announced earlier this month that the show would be returning to terrestrial TV to mark its 20th anniversary, with Freeview channel That’s TV showing episodes over the Christmas period.