'The League of Gentlemen' among more titles pulled from Netflix

Netflix have removed comedy The League of Gentlemen from the streaming service.

The news of the platform pulling the show, which starred Reece Shearsmith, Steve Pemberton and Mark Gatiss, comes as Little Britain has been removed from multiple on demand services, including Netflix, with both iPlayer and BritBox stating 'times have changed' since it first aired.

The David Walliams and Matt Lucas programme has long been criticised for the white actors’ use of blackface and depiction of other minority groups.

Read more: Leigh Francis apologises for playing black characters on Bo’ Selecta

The League of Gentlemen originally ran for three series from 1999 until 2002 before returning for a film in 2005 and a short revival in 2017.

The character of Papa Lazarou played by Shearsmith saw the actor wear a painted black face with white painted around his eyes and mouth.

In an interview earlier in the year, Shearsmith said the character wasn't a portrayal of a black man.

"It was not me doing a black man," he told The Independent. "It was always this clown-like make-up and we just came up with what we thought was the scariest idea to have in a sort of Child Catcher-like way."

The League of Gentlemen's three series and revival is still available on BBC iPlayer.

Netflix has also taken down four shows from Australian comedian Chris Lilley who has donned both black and brown face across shows Summer Heights High, We Can Be Heroes, Angry Boys and Jonah From Tonga.

Performing character Jonah Takalua saw Lilley wear brown make-up in Summer Heights High and Jonah From Tonga.

Angry Boys features the actor in blackface as rapper S.mouse while he portrays a Chinese student Ricky Wong in We Can Be Heroes.

However, Summer Heights High and We Can Be Heroes are still available to watch on BBC iPlayer.

A spokesperson told Metro: "The change only affects Little Britain. There’s a lot of historical programming available on BBC iPlayer, which we regularly review."