Sherrie Hewson has hit back at ITV for slapping old school comedies with trigger warnings in a woke crackdown.

In recent months a number of shows, such as The Office, Minder and Open All Hours, have had cautions put on them ahead of watching them on ITVX.

Leon Griffiths’ Minder was on our screens between 1979 and 1995 on ITV, and Sherrie played Olive on the episode The Old School Tie.

The show was recently slapped with a trigger warning for ‘offensive language and sexual stereotypes’.

But Sherrie, who has also starred in the likes of Coronation Street, Benidorm and Crossroads, isn’t sure why.

Speaking exclusively with Daily Mail about partnering up with Great! TV about their relaunch, Sherrie told us: ‘I was in all of those. I was never offended when I was in them. I’ve never been offended by Benidorm. I’ve never been offended by any of those shows you’ve just mentioned, Minder, and all of those.

 

‘It never occurred to me to be offended.

‘Now we live in a different time now, and woke is alive and living out there. Everything is cyclical.

‘Everything goes round and round and round and goes back again and again and again – so that is what will happen.

‘So at the moment, people are becoming very protective and saying, “oh, you know, if you say that, or if you say this, it might offend somebody.”

‘Well, something offends somebody every day of the week, well, every second of the day, somebody is offended by something… How we cope with that is we are mindful.

‘And we care, and we don’t hurt, and we watch how we say things, but there does come a point. I mean, there was a warning on… I think it was Man About The House, and Dad’s Army.

‘These are all very old programmes and they’re all funniest funny whatever it is, as long as it’s not hurtful and harmful.

‘And they weren’t very funny and for the life of me, I tried to think, as I say, I’ve nearly been in all of them anyway, what would be offensive….

Open All Hours – which was on our screens between 1976 and 1985 – was also hit with a warning

‘Of what anybody said at that moment.’

She continued: ‘I was trying to think now what, what could have been offensive?

‘I couldn’t think of anything that was offensive, but I think we have to be mindful and careful and make sure that people aren’t hurt by things

‘But there will come a time when you go, “Can we not say anything then?”

‘Therefore, what do we what do we make? What do we write? Who writes what?

‘And I think that’s where it might go to.

‘But then, I don’t know. I know lots of writers, and I’ve never been offended by their, by their writing and I don’t know what we do about it.

‘I think we have to bide our time and know that everything will come round again.

Sherrie played Joyce Temple-Savage in Benidorm between 2012 and 2018

Read More
Comedy slapped with trigger warning for ‘offensive language and stereotypes’ in woke ITV crackdown
article image
‘And as I say, it’ll bite us all on the bum in the end.’

It comes as Great! relaunched on September 4 and viewers will be watch to watch programmes such as Rising Damp, Murder, She Wrote and the Carry On franchise.

Research found by The Upper Third and Great! found that the older telly viewers (66%) love classic TV programmes over modern formats.

Speaking about joining forces with Great! TV, Sherrie said: ‘I wanted to do this for a long time, so I feel as though I’m part of the campaign myself, and it’s 55 and upwards.

‘So that’s a big part of the community that feel as though they’re forgotten on television.

‘So they feel as though they’ve been left behind – and great TV have got Freeview and Sky, where you can go on there, and you can watch all the classic shows.

‘They’ve got them all on there.’

She continued: ‘The Rising Damp, Duty Free, Friends, Home To Roost, In Loving Memory. I was in nearly all of these.