Outrage as BBC changes ending of Humpty Dumpty

Accident-prone nursery rhyme character Humpty Dumpty has been given a happier ending thanks to some controversial tweaking of his story by the BBC.

Britain's public broadcaster changed the words to the 1810 rhyme for one of its children's shows so all those who originally couldn't "put Humpty together again" after his great fall could now make "Humpty happy again".

The change, broadcast on the CBeebies programme Something Special last Friday, outraged Labour MP for Glasgow South Tom Harris who watched the show with his two young sons.

Harris told The Independent on Sunday it was "pathetic" that the BBC had rewritten one of the most famous nursery rhymes so children would not be upset at Humpty's fate.

"For goodness sake. Obviously children will find it far too violent, distressing and horrific that Humpty should not be put together again," he told the newspaper.

A BBC spokesman said the changes were made for creative reasons.

"We play nursery rhymes with their original lyrics all the time and the small change to Humpty Dumpty was done for no other reason than being creative and entertaining," he said.

It is not the first time the BBC has tweaked a popular nursery rhyme to ensure a more sanitised ending.

A recent CBeebies cookery show changed Little Miss Muffet so the little girl no longer runs away from the spider but instead becomes friends with the eight-legged creature.

 

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