ChuckleVision star Paul Chuckle has branded the BBC’s tribute to his late brother Barry “a slap in the face”.
After Barry died last August at the age of 73, the BBC put the final series of the brothers’ iconic BBC children’s series on iPlayer so that “viewers old and new can enjoy Barry and Paul’s unique brand of kids’ comedy”.
However, Paul has now hit out at bosses for not airing ChuckleVision on any of the BBC’s mainstream channels.
Speaking to Radio Times, Paul said: “That again was a slap in the face. They could have at least put it on the BBC – not iPlayer
“They asked permission and I said ‘why not on main TV?’”
ChuckleVision aired for 21 series between 1987 and 2009, with nearly 300 episodes produced, making it one of the longest-running kids’ series on UK television.
The show recently featured on a controversial CBBC ranking of their most famous programmes, with many fans outraged that it did not feature in the highest tier.
Paul tweeted his unhappiness with its ‘mid tier’ placement at the time, and has now added to Radio Times: “It was absolutely ridiculous what they put. People were saying how stupid this is.
“It doesn’t really mean anything it’s just another slap in the face from CBBC.”
Paul’s anger towards the corporation appears to stem from the way ChuckleVision was dropped in 2009, as he claimed he and Barry were “not told” about the decision.
After eventually confronting bosses themselves, Paul claimed they were told by way of an explanation “that the repeats were getting as many views as the new ones.”
“A year later they dropped [the repeats]. It was a total lack of respect,” he added.
The BBC declined to comment when contacted by HuffPost UK.