Little Britain is a British sketch comedy series that began as a radio show in 2000 and ran as a television series between 2003 and 2006. It was written and performed by David Walliams and Matt Lucas. Financed by the BBC, the radio series was first broadcast on BBC Radio 4, with the initial two television series premiering on BBC Three and the third and final series on BBC One.

The programme consists of a series of sketches involving exaggerated parodies of British people from various walks of life. Each sketch was introduced by a voice-over narration (Tom Baker) suggesting that the programme was a guide – aimed at non-British people – to British society. Despite the narrator's description of "great British institutions", the comedy arises from the British audience's self-deprecating understanding of either themselves or of people known to them. Recurring characters included Andy Pipkin, who falsely presented himself as requiring the use of a wheelchair to gain the attention of his carer Lou Todd; Daffyd Thomas, who claims to be "the only gay in the village" despite much evidence to the contrary; and Vicky Pollard, presented as a working-class "chav" engaging in anti-social behaviour.

The programme's title was inspired by both Great Britain and the phrase Little Englander, referring to narrow-mindedness and complacent insularity.^[1] It is also the name of a London street described by Washington Irving as "a stronghold of true John Bullism". The radio show was trailed as "exploring British life in Britain as it is lived by Britons today in Britain".^[2] It spawned a live show which toured internationally between 2005 and 2007, various specials for the Comic Relief charity marathons, and the HBO-produced Little Britain USA spin-off in 2008. Walliams and Lucas followed Little Britain with another sketch show, Come Fly with Me.

The series was popular and received high viewing figures, receiving 9.5 million viewers following its move to BBC One in 2005.^[3] Despite the series's popularity, commentators expressed concern on the impact that the show had on the large numbers of children who watched it, despite being aired after the watershed and on the heavy use of toilet humour, particularly in the second and third series. Criticism was also raised regarding the perceived derogatory manner in which Little Britain depicted racial and ethnic minority groups. In 2017, Lucas stated that he had come to agree with the latter criticism. In June 2020, the show was pulled from various UK streaming services due to its use of blackface. In March 2022, the BBC made Little Britain available to view on BBC iPlayer again with some of the more controversial characters being cut from the original release.^[4]

As a sketch show, Little Britain features many characters with varying degrees of costume and makeup. Matt Lucas and David Walliams play all the main characters in the show. Tom Baker narrates and Paul Putner, Steve Furst, Sally Rogers and Stirling Gallacher regularly appear as several different characters.

Other regular cast include: Anthony Head as the Prime Minister, Ruth Jones as Myfanwy and Joann Condon as Pat.

A two-part Christmas special, Little Britain Abroad, was broadcast in December 2006 and January 2007. This makes a total of 25 episodes to date. There has also been the Little Britain Live show.

In the UK, the series was originally broadcast on BBC Three and BBC One and was aired in repeats on Dave, Gold, and Watch.^[11][12] In the US and in Bermuda, the series airs on BBC America. BBC Canada has aired the program from 3 March 2005  to present.^[13][14] UKTV broadcasts the programme in Australia and New Zealand.^[15] Comedy Central India broadcast the programme for Indian audiences.

The programme, particularly the second and third series, have been criticised for its treatment of racial and ethnic minority groups and "punch-down" comedic style.^[16] Fellow comedian Victoria Wood said that while the sketches amused her, she found them to be "very misogynistic".^[17] In 2005, Fergus Sheppard wrote in The Scotsman:

The latest series of the hit BBC comedy Little Britain may be hauling in record viewing figures, but it has also sparked a previously unthinkable chorus of criticism, with claims that the programme had lost its way, trading early ingenuity for swelling amounts of toilet humour in the search for cheap laughs, and becoming increasingly offensive.^[18]

The Guardian columnist Owen Jones argued in his book Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class that Little Britain helped to perpetuate unkind stereotypes about working-class people, exacerbated by the fact that both Walliams and Lucas attended private schools.^[19]

The series became increasingly popular with children, despite being shown after the watershed. There was also criticism from teachers that the programme led to inappropriate copycat behaviour in the playground.^[20]

Speaking in October 2017, Lucas stated that if he were to re-make Little Britain he would avoid making jokes about transvestites and would not play the role of a black character, saying "Basically, I wouldn't make that show now. It would upset people. We made a more cruel kind of comedy than I'd do now... Society has moved on a lot since then and my own views have evolved". He defended decisions that were taken at the time, and explained that he and Walliams deliberately sought to play a very diverse group of people.^[21] The pair went on to reproduce some of the characters – including a brief reprisal of Emily and Florence, the transvestites – on the BBC's The Big Night In during the 2020 pandemic where they acknowledged in character that they would not play the characters again.

In June 2020, Little Britain was pulled from BBC iPlayer, Netflix and BritBox, alongside Come Fly with Me, for its use of blackface.^[22] A spokesperson for the BBC said: "There's a lot of historical programming available on BBC iPlayer, which we regularly review." On its decision to remove the shows, BritBox added: "Times have changed since Little Britain first aired, so it is not currently available on BritBox."^[23] Speaking shortly after the removal, Lucas and Walliams apologised again, saying: "Once again we want to make it clear that it was wrong and we are very sorry."^[24]

In March 2022, Little Britain was restored to BBC iPlayer after scenes containing the use of blackface with the characters of Ting Tong and Desiree DeVere were removed and a content warning included.^[25] In a statement, the BBC said "Little Britain has been made available to fans on BBC iPlayer following edits made to the series by Matt and David that better reflect the changes in the cultural landscape over the last 20 years since the show was first made."^[26][27]

"I'm Gay", the song that Matt Lucas's character Daffyd Thomas sang at the end of the Little Britain Live shows, was released as a CD single in Australia in March 2007 and reached number 66 on the ARIA Singles Chart.^[28]

Matt Lucas and Peter Kay, in the guise of their characters Andy Pipkin and Brian Potter, re-recorded the song "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" with its creators, The Proclaimers. This version was released as a charity single for Comic Relief on 19 March 2007.

Little Britain: The Video Game was released in February 2007. It featured a variety of characters in mini-games and received very negative reviews, being referred to by some as one of the worst games ever made.^[29]

The Russian series Nasha Russia is inspired by Little Britain.^[30][31]

In 2010, characters returned for Nationwide Building Society adverts, including Lou and Andy, Vicky Pollard and Eddie (Emily) Howard.^[32]

Little Britain Productions is a production company set up by Lucas and Walliams, to produce their future television projects, such as Come Fly with Me, Rock Profile and The One....

• List of fictional prime ministers of the United Kingdom