Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen says he ‘certainly didn’t take offence’ to gay slur in The Royle Family

Changing Rooms star called BBC language warning ‘so bizarre’

Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen (Getty Images)

Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen has said it is “bizarre” that the BBC has added a “discriminatory language” warning to The Royle Family.

In one episode of the comedy series, from 1999, the family patriarch Jim Royle (Ricky Tomlinson) is slumped on the sofa watching Llewelyn-Bowen in his DIY show Changing Rooms. He refers to him as a “Nancy boy”.

Earlier this month, The Royle Family became the latest TV series to be given a tag declaring that the series “contains discriminatory language which some viewers may find offensive”.

“The whole thing is so bizarre,” Llewelyn-Bowen told The Times. “I mean, for God’s sake, what was he going to call me? That’s exactly what people thought I was in the Nineties and appearing on The Royle Family was an iconic moment for me. I certainly didn’t take offence.”

He joked: “But I suppose we can now look forward to Jim Royle’s moving lips being over-dubbed with, ‘He’s a highly respected interior designer and committed family man.’”

Llewelyn-Bowen has been married to his wife Jackie Bowen since 1989. In the Times interview, he also spoke about how the paparazzi and tabloids used to be “determined to show I was secretly gay”.

Last October, it was announced that Changing Rooms will be returning to screens with Davina McCall as the show’s presenter, more than 15 years after it aired its last episode. Llewelyn-Bowen will be back as the show’s designer.