Amanda Holden with her former Britain’s Got Talent co-star David Walliams
Amanda Holden has asked David Walliams if his comeback to comedy will be “woke”, following his and Matt Lucas’ reported plans to bring back a less offensive Little Britain.
During a reunion with her ex Britain’s Got Talent co-star, alongside comedian Matt Lucas, on Heart Radio this week, the TV double act shared news about their new projects in the pipeline.
David, 53, said: “We’re just working on a few different shows which play to our strength, multi-character shows, and so we want to make people laugh because we need comedy more than ever!
“Everyone says that, don’t they? As if it is World War II or something like that!”.
Chiming in, Amanda, 54, agreed, and said: “Well, I was going to say, we do need comedy and we do need edgy comedy.
“Because comedy isn’t funny unless you are making people think, or you are on the edge, so tell me it isn’t going to be woke?”
In response, David said: “I think it is impossible for me to be woke,” to which Amanda agreed.
“Absolutely impossible,” he reiterated. “And I think people are tiring of it.”
Amanda Holden said comedy needed to be ‘edgy’
David and Matt were the stars of sitcom Little Britain, which ran from 2003 to 2006.
In recent years, the show has been branded “explicitly racist and outdated” by Ofcom audience research, over its use of language.
Back in 2020, the pair also issued apologies for their use of blackface in the show, which now runs online with content warnings and some scenes removed.
In 2023, Matt said he and David are set to bring the show back but in a completely different way, which he wished they had considered sooner. Matt also confirmed he respected that times had changed since the sitcom’s debut.
David’s comeback to comedy comes following his axe from Britain’s Got Talent in 2022 over alleged “disrespectful comments” he made about contestants.
In November 2023, reports claimed he and show bosses had reached an “amicable resolution” after his plans to sue the programme.
The comic, who was a judge on the ITV show for 10 years alongside Amanda, Simon Cowell and Alesha Dixon, has since been replaced by Bruno Tonioli.