Entertainment
BBC axes Nish Kumar’s ‘left-biased’ comedy show The Mash Report
BBC bosses have axed The Mash Report, the show which was accused of left-wing bias, to allow ‘room for new comedy’.
The show, which first appeared on television screens in 2017 was inspired by satirical website The Daily Mash, was last on-screen in April and May last year and ran for four series.
The popular programme is a satirical take on the week’s news which featured hosts Nish Kumar and Rachel Parris.
But Beeb bigwigs have decided it is time for fresh material on BBC Two despite The Mash Report successfully filming from home during coronavirus restrictions.
A BBC spokesperson said: ‘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.
‘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 addition to Nish and Rachel, there were appearances from comedian Ellie Taylor, comedy writer Michael Spicer, writer and comedian Andrew Hunter Murray, and director and writer Grieg Johnson among others.
In 2018, broadcaster Andrew Neil singled out The Mash Report while complaining that the corporation’s comedy output was too left-wing,
He called the BBC Two programme ‘self-satisfied, self-adulatory, unchallenged left-wing propaganda’.
New director-general Tim Davie previously dismissed reports that he planned to overhaul BBC comedy, saying ‘comedy has always been poking at authority’.
But he said: ‘We need to nurture brilliant writers from all kind of perspectives’ and there must be ‘no assumed point of view’.
Episodes from the fourth series were drawing in fewer than a million viewers but a number of clips went viral on social media.
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