''Baadasss TV'' was a British television series, devoted to youth-oriented fashion and culture, which aired on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

in 1994. The series, presented by

Andi Oliver Andrea "Andi" Oliver (born 1964) is a British chef, television and radio broadcaster, and former singer. She is best known for her appearances on the BBC cooking show the ''Great British Menu''. Early career Oliver is a former member of the b ...

and American rapper Ice-T, was "the first British series to explore the wilder side of

black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...

culture". The show was made by the production company

Rapido TV Rapido may refer to: Transportation * Rapido (train), former brand name for passenger rail services in Ontario and Quebec, Canada * Arnold Rapido, a brand of model railway equipment manufactured by Arnold (models) * Peugeot Rapido, a scooter built ...

, also responsible for '' Eurotrash'' and ''

Passengers A passenger (also abbreviated as pax) is a person who travels in a vehicle, but does not bear any responsibility for the tasks required for that vehicle to arrive at its destination or otherwise operate the vehicle, and is not a steward. The ...

''. It broke the mould of "po-faced" minority programming such as the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

's ''Ebony''. As well as an appearance of

Lee 'Scratch' Perry Lee may refer to: Name Given name * Lee (given name), a given name in English Surname * Chinese surnames romanized as Li or Lee: ** Li (surname 李) or Lee (Hanzi ), a common Chinese surname ** Li (surname 利) or Lee (Hanzi ), a Chinese s ...

, the show featured " soft-pornography,

rapping Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

dwarves, paintings made from elephant

droppings Feces ( or faeces), known colloquially and in slang as poo and poop, are the solid or semi-solid remains of food that was not digested in the small intestine, and has been broken down by bacteria in the large intestine. Feces contain a relati ...

and fitness fanatics Juicy Julia and the Raggaerobics crew". Some commentators criticized ''Baadasss TV'' as a "sterotyped freak show".

Trevor Phillips Sir Mark Trevor Phillips (born 31 December 1953) is a British writer, broadcaster and former politician who served as Chair of the London Assembly from 2000 to 2001 and from 2002 to 2003. He presented '' Trevor Phillips on Sunday'', a Sunday ...

, then a LWT producer, attacked the programme as "just another nigger mistrel show", reinforcing black stereotypes of 'gangsters, pimps, whores and freaks'. However, the show had its defenders. Patrick Younge, producer of the very different 1995 magazine show ''Black Britain'', argued that the real problem was a broader lack of television aimed at black audiences: In 1996 ''Baadasss TV'' was "taken off the air for its lack of political correctness".

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 1223156 Channel 4 original programming 1994 British television series debuts 1996 British television series endings Black British television shows