I try not to jump on band wagons, but this proposal needs to stop:

Petitioning The Channel 4 Headquarters building is at: 124 Horseferry Road London SW1P 2TX Tel: 0207 396 4444 Channel 4
This petition will be delivered to:
The Channel 4 Headquarters building is at: 124 Horseferry Road London SW1P 2TX Tel: 0207 396 4444
Channel 4
Petition to stop Channel - 4 , from making a comedy series, about the Irish famine .

Fairlie Gordon
Glasgow, United Kingdom
Famine or genocide is no laughing matter , approximately 1 million Irish people died ,and another 2 million were forced to emigrate ,because they were starving , any programme on this issue would have to be of serious historical context not repeat not a comedy

thanks
JulieA

Just clarifying I should have said: the tv series needs to stop - please join the petition! Thanks, JulieA

I personally don't get worked up over things like this, but I can definitely see the double standard here.

It strongly depends on how it is handled. I mean BlackAdder is a comedy about World War One, but it isn't just mindless "ha, ha, these poor bastards died". So it might be set in Famine Ireland, but for all we know it could be good. I'd wait and see.

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The dialect I use is Cork Irish.
Ar sgáth a chéile a mhairid na daoine, lag agus láidir, uasal is íseal

One of the UK's most popular sitcoms of the late 20th century was about the Nazi occupation of France. It is very popular in the French dub ('Allo 'allo). Probably the longest running sitcom in UK history was about the British Home Guard during WWII (Dad's Army). The Spanish had a sitcom a couple of years ago about a little village during the Civil War, heavily featuring a squad of the military junta's troops (Plaza de España).

There is no topic that should be considered too "serious" to have a sitcom about. A sitcom isn't offensive by its choice of subject matter, but in how it handles it.

I do think the one-line-pitch is a bit worrying -- "Shameless in famine Ireland" -- but I understand a lot of people enjoyed that series a lot more than I did.

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A language belongs to its native speakers, and when you speak it, you are a guest in their homes.
If you are not a good guest, you have no right to complain about receiving poor hospitality.

Lon Dubh is right; it all depends on how they handle it – but I personally don't have high hopes for this one.

I think, the fact that it's the British who are making this comedy makes a big difference because the British government deliberately caused people to starve in the first place.

Would it be offensive if Germany made a comedy about sending Jews to concentration camps and then killing them in gas chambers?
Would it be offensive if Israel made a comedy about bombing people in Gaza?

I haven't really thought this one through, but I can see why people think this comedy could be offensive.

Alas once the wheels are in motion, and the commission set, it is not likely to stop - money speaks! But they do need to know that people around the world will be watching and voicing complaint. A protest might just make them a tad more careful in their approach, and let them know that it is common knowledge that this genocide was avoidable.....

Personally I loved Allo Allo - it ridiculed all sides - I cannot imagine that it offended anyone. I do hope for the best.

thanks for talking about it,

go raibh mile maith agat,
JulieA

I also happen to think that the Great Irish Famine could hardly be considered a subject for comedy or derision.
I remember seeing a television series shown here called Papa Schultz - in America, it was called Hogan's Heroes - about American POWs in Germany during the war. I found it crass and insulting, especially when you think that at the end of the war, American POWS were found in Death Camps such as Berga and elsewhere and of course among many others, Russian POWs and civilian slave labourers from Eastern Europe were treated abominably. Allied commandos were systematically shot when captured by the SS. At least nobody has come up with the thoroughly distasteful idea of creating a film comedy about concentration camps.
A number of films about the German Occupation of France have been made here that make fun of what happened during that time and some have been very successful - La Grande Vadrouille (Don't Look Now...You're Being Shot At!) and Mais où est passée la Septième Compagnie? (Now where did the 7th Company get to?) are examples, but they're treading a fine line all the same.

How interesting! I've just come back from a few weeks in Spain. Along the way I met an English woman who wanted to talk about the "potato famine" (an expression that infuriates me). When I told her that the loss of the potato crop was not the sole reason for the starvation she gave me a withering look (Brits are good at that). So I asked her what I ask everyone with this view - what happened to the cows and sheep, the hens and eggs, the butter and milk, the cabbages and other veg, she was shocked to learn that they were taken at gunpoint by the British yoemanry (many of them Irish) to feed mill workers in the north of England who also suffered a famine at the same time. Now if they put that into their comedy it might educate some English people in the real reasons behind such widespread starvation.

Perhaps she might even have heard of Jonathan Swift. The next time you find yourself confronted with people like that, you might like to suggest that they try reading a Modest Proposal, such an innocent-sounding title for such an important literary work from such an important figure of Anglo-Irish literature - how could they possibly not have already read it.