The co-creator of hit BBC1 drama Life on Mars has revealed that politically incorrect character DCI Gene Hunt was given a make-over prior to filming because he was deemed to be too racist.
One example, that was in an early draft script but never made it to the screen, was the character referring to the Caribbean barman at the bar frequented by Hunt and his police squad as "chalky".
Ashley Pharoah, speaking at a TV festival session called Mind Your Language, about political correctness in British television, said that the character was originally meant to be "casually homophobic, sexist and racist".
"We couldn't afford the risk of people not liking Gene Hunt," said Mr Pharoah, even if that meant that "there wasn't a true picture of policing in 1973".
He said that the racist elements to Hunt's character, who was played by Philip Glenister, had been "uncomfortable in the [script] read through" and that there had been an "intake of breath around the room".
Mr Pharoah described it as a slightly "bizarre conclusion" that the sexist and homophobic elements of the character were found to be acceptable while only racism was "a step too far".
He suggested that this may have been because "two wars had been won" - meaning homophobia and sexism are at a point in UK culture that they can be featured, albeit carefully, in TV drama - but that racism is still a taboo subject.
Mr Pharoah also admitted, when asked in a Q&A about whether letters had been received about the character's actions, that he had been unhappy with the way the Daily Mail had made DCI Gene Hunt a "pin-up".
"He became the pin-up boy for the Daily Mail for a few weeks and that was deeply disturbing," he said. "They lost the irony... they knew exactly what they were doing."
Mr Pharoah made it clear that the BBC "didn't lean" on the script writers or producers because the changes were made at an early stage by the creative team behind the drama.
