Reference CAS-692338-PDV9ZX

Thank you for your email regarding Russell Howard’s Good News, broadcast March 31 2011 at 22.30 on BBC Three.

It is never our intention to cause offence, so of course it troubles me to hear of cases where we may have done so inadvertently.

This sketch was not about transgender people per se, and while the BBC and the programme makers sincerely regret any offence we have caused to you, we would like to stress that the comments were not targeted at the transgender community. The sketch was about a fictional budget airline and the aim was to poke fun at the age old tradition of men dressing as women for laughs, very much in the vein of Les Dawson and Kenny Everett. We’re sorry if you felt this went too far but we have to credit the audience with the ability to discern that this is what we meant.

We are acutely aware that there are sensitivities around particular subjects and give careful thought to how to deal with such issues in comedy.

I appreciate and understand your strength of feeling on this matter and we will certainly bear it in mind going forward.

It is very helpful for us to hear the opinions of our audience, whether positive or negative, and I’d like to thank you for taking the time to contact us with your thoughts.

Warmest regards

Sean Hancock

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