BBC To Finally Air Mandy Special That Was Pulled From Last Year's Christmas Schedule

Fans of Diane Morgan’s hit comedy Mandy finally have the news they have been waiting for.

Last year, the sitcom’s festive special was mysteriously pulled from the BBC’s Christmas schedule just days before it was due to air, with reports at the time suggesting the broadcaster had decided not to air the episode until certain elements of it could be updated. 

The BBC has now confirmed to TV Zone that the unaired Christmas episode of Mandy will now be part of this year’s festive line-up instead.

A description of the episode, which was filmed in January 2025, read: “Mandy rarely dabbles in global diplomacy, especially over Christmas when it’s so cold out and there’s good telly on, but when she does, you can bet that she makes a real difference to the balance of power in the world.”

While some fans speculated online that Donald Trump’s intended lawsuit against the BBC around this time may have caused the disruption, Radio Times later clarified that the US president was not referenced in the Mandy episode.

However, the comedy seemingly did reference Russian leader Vladimir Putin, with Popbitch alleging in January that the sitcom episode featured graphic scenes of violence involving Putin (or, rather, his body double) and a cheese wire.

Meanwhile, last month, Diane claimed during an interview with The Independent that she couldn’t say much about the episode being pulled, other than that the decision was made “because of world events”. 

“I think they decided it was for the right reasons,” she said. “It was a complete accident. I’m never one of these comedians that tries to be topical – it’s just not what I do. It’s completely out of keeping with me,” the Philomena Cunk creator added.

This latest update on Mandy comes after the successful debut of Diane’s newest comedy, Ann Droid, which sees her play a social humanoid robot who forms an unlikely friendship with a widow, portrayed by Sue Johnston.

The first episode pulled in four million viewers in its first seven days, with a second series reported by The Sun to be in development earlier this month.