Abstract
The advent of British television in the 1950s coincided with the mass migration to Britain of people from its former colonies. The histories of television and British 'race' relations are therefore closely intertwined, as this paper will show. The development of British TV comedy and its representations of 'race' relations, provides a useful barometer of state policies and public attitudes on ‘race’ relations and racism. But the role of comedy in combating prejudices and intolerance is contested and controversial. Sitcoms of the 1970s like Till Death Us Do Part, though anti-racist in intent, arguably exacerbated racist sentiments. British audiences tended to laugh with the racist bigot, Alf Garnett, not at him. This did not prevent the programme format being reproduced in Europe and USA.

More recently, despite significant advances in the representation of minority ethnic groups, both in front of and behind TV screens, British broadcasters have no reason to feel complacent. Greg Dyke, Director general of the BBC, recently referred to the BBC as 'hideously white', a statement which some misinterpreted to mean that it was hideous to be white. He vowed to go beyond the rhetoric of policy and ensure that the BBC would, in future, reflect the British population in all its diversity.

Still mainstream entertainment and highly popular game shows, especially those based on ‘shaming’ and ridiculing the participants, continue to reinforce stereotypical images of minority ethnic groups, and play on ideas and images of ‘foreignness’. TV for all its good intentions reproduces racialised regimes of representation. Yet humour is a powerul tool in the hands of broadcasters when used well.

During the 1990s a number of British Black and South Asian performers have broken boundaries in British comedy with their own brand of ‘hybrid’ humour. The writers and performers are British Asians. White racism and the idiosyncracies of British Asian families are the targets of humour. Catch phrases (in Punjabi and English) from the acclaimed comedy sketch series Goodness Gracious Me can be heard on playgrounds all over Britain. This is not politically correct humour, but it has done more to celebrate multilingualism and cultural diversity in the mainstream of British TV than a thousand earnest documentaries.