Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Submit Guest Post

BBC axes Nish Kumar's show 'to make room for new comedy shows'

THE BBC has axed the left-wing satire show The Mash Report to 'make room for new comedy shows'.

The show, a satirical take on the week's news which featured Nish Kumar and Rachel Parris, first aired in 2017.


Kumar hit back at the broadcaster's decision to cancel the programme, posting a picture of himself in front of the words 'Boris Johnson is a liar and a racist', reported The Daily Mail.

"A lot of people asking me for a comment and here it is," he wrote on Twitter.

"We are very proud of The Mash Report but, in order to make room for new comedy shows, we sometimes have to make difficult decisions and it won't be returning," the BBC said in a statement.

"We would like to thank all those involved in four brilliant series and hope to work with Nish Kumar, Rachel Parris and the team in the future."

In 2018, broadcaster Andrew Neil singled out the satire show while complaining that the corporation's comedy output was too left-wing, The Daily Mail report said. 

He called the BBC Two programme 'self-satisfied, self-adulatory, unchallenged left-wing propaganda'.

In September last year, director-general  Tim Davie told staff the BBC needed to keep reforming 'with urgency' and stressed it must be 'a universal public service'.

Many view the latest action is in line with his statement. "Love the show and this is unfair," a user wrote on Twitter.

But others disagreed, with another person said: "The Mash Report was terrible, that's why it's been cancelled." Another person posted: "Can I just point out The Mash Report was completely unfunny."

Kumar, who also hosted Joel & Nish vs The World, often centres his stand-up routine on political matters and he is no stranger to controversy.

In December 2018, he apologised for giving a platform to Steve Topple, a 'left-wing journalist who promoted antisemitic conspiracy theories'.

In 2019, he said 'the architects of Brexit are a cocktail of lying racists and buffoons', reports said.

Last year, a show he hosted, Horrible Histories Brexit, provoked outrage after suggesting Britain had historically failed to produce anything of note, relying instead on imports.

Historian Andrew Roberts described the ten-minute show, which was released to coincide with the departure from the EU, as 'a stream of bigoted hatred directed against this country'.

In 2019, Kumar had bread thrown at him and was booed off stage after making a political joke at a charity cricket lunch.

Speaking on Graham Norton’s New Year’s Eve special, Kumar described long-time Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage as ‘a sack of meat brought to life by a witch’s curse’.

The BBC's decision to axe the show comes ahead of its annual TV licence fee being increased by £1.50, from £157.50 to £159, from 1 April 2021. This is the equivalent of £13.12 per month.

Add EasternEye As Your Trusted Source
preferred source on google news

More For You

heathrow-airport-expansion

Delayed passengers wait and queue with their luggage at Terminal 3 of London Heathrow airport, west of London on September 8, 2026.

(Photo by Henry NICHOLLS / AFP via Getty Images)

Labour backs Heathrow third runway, Healey confirms

Highlights

  • No 10 confirms Healey was setting out the Government’s position.
  • Heathrow expansion is expected to support economic growth and investment.
  • Government has yet to decide between competing runway proposals.

THE Labour government has backed plans to build a third runway at Heathrow Airport, chancellor John Healey has confirmed, ending months of uncertainty over its position on one of the UK's biggest infrastructure projects.

Keep ReadingShow less