5 TV shows which had to be cancelled due to 'melting eyeballs' and Thatcher footage

Television history is full of programmes that never reached audiences - not because they were poorly made, but because they were considered too disturbing, controversial, or politically sensitive. While today's controversies often focus on streaming flops or social media backlash, past decades reveal far more extreme cases: from melting eyeballs and preserved body parts to footage of Margaret Thatcher ordering police raids.

Broadcasters like the BBC have long maintained archives of unaired shows, carefully storing material deemed too risky for prime-time audiences. Some of these programmes eventually saw the light of day years later, while others remain locked away, a testament to shifting cultural standards and political pressures. Here are five of the most notorious examples:

It finally aired in 1987, more than a decade later, and was adapted into a film starring Sting in 1982. The controversy reflected both moral anxiety and the influence of campaigners like Mary Whitehouse, who actively lobbied against explicit television content.

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Producers found a creative workaround: actors, including Stephen Rea, were used to dub Adams' words, allowing coverage of Northern Ireland's fraught political landscape without directly broadcasting the politicians themselves.

The unusual approach illustrated the lengths journalists went to in order to inform the public while navigating government censorship.

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The controversy coincided with Margaret Thatcher's rise to power, and one internal memo reportedly exclaimed, "Margaret Thatcher is about to become prime minister and you're trying to make a play with a twelve-inch pickled penis in a bottle!"

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