Morris suicide bomb sitcom falls flat

Chris Morris, the satirist behind Brass Eye, has had his new comedy about a suicide bomber cell in northern England rejected by both the BBC and Channel 4. The take on jihadism wasn't deemed suitable for prime-time audiences.

The production team behind the film was adamant that Morris – who had toured Bradford, Luton, Leeds and other towns in pre-production - wouldn't have offended the Muslim community with his parody. Mark Herbert from Warp Films said: "Chris's research has been meticulous. It is fatwa-proof."

Morris has said that he wanted the film to explore "the Dad's Army side of terrorism" and look at the human foibles of would-be martyrs. In it, potential suicide bombers attend a terror training camp where they argue about honey and get thrown out for smoking. One accidentally shoots another's foot. In Britain, the terrorists squabble over washing-up duties and their leader confuses a gram of triacetone triperoxide, a powdery explosive, for cocaine.

The synopsis cites an incident when real-life terrorist mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed invited a journalist to Pakistan to hear about his role as a ringleader in the 9/11 bombings, and then kept them waiting for two hours while he deliberated over which clothes would make him appear less fat on camera.

Brass Eye was never far from controversy. The mock news show's Paedophile Special generated some 2,000 complaints. In it, Morris persuaded DJ Neil Fox to say that "paedophiles have more genes in common with crabs than they do with you and me. Now that is science fact. There's no actual evidence for it, but it's a fact."