Sam Delaney´s News Thing was an anarchic fixture on RT for two years. Then the novichok poisonings changed the moodA few months into making my show Sam Delaney´s News Thing, which I hosted for two-and-a-half years on RT UK (the channel formerly known as Russia Today), we made a sketch called Diana in Heaven. It featured the writer and broadcaster Andy Dawson dressed in a blond wig and pearls, giving celebrity gossip reports from the afterlife. Dawson is a middle-aged, overweight man from Sunderland. He delivered his (awful) impression of Diana in front of a shabby celestial backdrop, while swigging from a can of lager. The production team and I thought it was hilarious, but when the channel boss saw it he was unimpressed. `You cannot broadcast this sketch!` he told us in his firm Russian accent. `There are some thingsthe British public just won´t accept.`So we removed it. I mean, we liked it, but not enough to make a stand and fall out with the channel. We were surprised they took the memory of the Princess of Wales so seriously. After all, it was the first - and almost the last - time RThad interfered in any of our output. But in many ways, the incident embodied our relationship: fun, yes, but also a bit stressful and confusing.It was anarchic, irreverent and stupid. It was too daft to be described as proper satire; we were inspired by the spirit of VizConspiracy theorists - and some mainstream journalists - began to accuse us of being part of Putin´s propaganda machineThe MPs who had become friends of the show told us that they couldn´t come on any moreWe were attracted by their risk-taking mentality. We had more creative freedom than at the BBC, ITV, Sky, the GuardianNews Thing continues as a weekly podcast, available to download through all the usual places. Continue reading...
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