ITV delete Tim Minchin #ITVfail

One of the things that fits well into a Jonathan Ross special TV show so well is a song from Tim Minchin. A song from Tim will always make you think. His offering for this Christmas was no different.

However, Peter Fincham ITV's director of television decided, after the show had been edited and was in ready to air format that Minchin's song wasn't to be included. To read what Tim thinks about the decision himself here. Here is the song in question:



Reading the comments in question I find that I am not alone as a Christian who is not offended by the song. Indeed the amount of the bible story of Jesus life that Minchin incorporates into the song is something that may cause an US network concern because of the amount of religion that is in it.

Yes it is satirical. Minchin is a comedian and a very good one. His comedy is of the clever variety and make you think as well as laugh. This song does just that. I think that two different people could very easily listen to this song and come away with different reactions. One would look into just what Minchin said about Jesus to see if it was actually true, or someone could turn around and just laugh at the irrelevance of Jesus and just enjoy their long weekend to celebrate his irrelevance thank you very much.

If Peter Fincham is this concerned about possible complaints one wonders if producers will bother to send him tapes in advance if good stuff is not allowed to be aired. Will ITV be able to compete with Channel 4 and the BBC and others in cutting edge satire, humour and drama if their director of television is going to be this scared to cause offence.

ITV once was seen as the more rebellious sibling in the TV family, but Fincham's self censoring if OTT and is actually causing me concern for just what freedom of speech ITV and other broadcasters will allow in the future. This is the wrong step over this excellent, IMHO, piece of satirical musical comedy.