Angry in the Great White North

From the Daily Mail:

The BBC has been urged to pull a 'sick' new comedy show which features spoof news reports of Tony Blair being assassinated and a 9/11-style video of terrorists crashing an airliner into the Houses of Parliament.

The clips for an Oscar-style 'Terrorism Awards' ceremony that forms one of the sketches in the new BBC2 series, Time Trumpet.

As well as the al-Qaeda plane attack and a picture of Mr Blair with a bullet hole in the side of his head after being 'shot as he slept beside his wife', the skit also features a Hamas bombing in Tel Aviv. It is believed it was made before the recent outbreak of hostilities in the Middle East.

After each clip is shown, there is the sound of applause and laughter - supposedly from the audience at the award ceremony.

Assassins shooting people in the head. Civilians being blown up by bombs. How droll.

Now it is one thing to allow something like this to be shown on TV. The BBC could be considered brave for doing so. But the BBC went farther. It allowed its own on-air personalities to make guest appearances to add authenticity to the "award" show:

To add authenticity to the clips - which appeared on the internet yesterday in what appeared to be a cynical attempt to drum up publicity - 'The Terrorism Awards' are hosted by BBC election veteran Peter Snow and Tomorrow's World presenter Philippa Forrester.

Introducing the nominees, Mr Snow says: 'Terrorism can be a lonely business, and a long hard struggle. Our three finalists in this category are ...'

The BBC is usually very reluctant to allow its news readers or reporters to appear in films or fictional programmes. This time however permission was granted following a decision by the BBC's editorial policy department.

A BBC spokeswoman yesterday defended Time Trumpet, saying the sketches needed to be seen 'in the context of the whole series.' 'It is a satire set in the year 2031, looking back at the events and people of today,' he said.

Here are some images from the video satire.

First, the plane smashing Big Ben:

Now, Tony Blair dead:

And the fun and laughter had by all:

Too bad the BBC forgot that British soldiers are still fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq against these people and their allies. Seems less funny when you think about it.