DENNIS DE-MENACED

British tabloid The Sun are reporting that the new BBC cartoon based on the Beano's Dennis the Menace has been cleaned up by the PC brigade.



THE ARTICLE WENT:

COMIC tearaway Dennis The Menace has been turned into Walter The Softy by politically correct BBC bosses.

They have banned The Beano's bully from using his trusty catapult, water pistol and peashooter in their new cartoon series.

Dennis is also no longer allowed to pick on geeky Walter and is not slippered by his dad as a punishment. Even his dog Gnasher has been targeted.

He will no longer sink his teeth in people or engage in his trademark wanton destruction.

Dennis also looks less menacing, with his scowl replaced by a charming boyish grin.

In the new series made by Red Kite Animation, which launches next month on CBBC, Dennis has been "re-imagined".

He now gets in scrapes by dreaming up contraptions that end up causing mayhem. In one episode he turns Gnasher into a cleaning device to tidy up after he cooks, but the house ends up covered in filth.

An insider revealed: "Dennis can't be seen to use weapons and giving other kids grief in a BBC cartoon. The BBC doesn't want to be accused of encouraging children to be violent."

But the move has angered purists as the comic, which launched in 1951, still has Dennis getting up to his old tricks.

A BBC spokesperson commented: "Dennis the Menace has been evolving since it's creation in 1951, in print and on TV. Although the stories and animation have been updated to appeal to current CBBC viewers, his character has not changed significantly and Dennis remains as boisterous and mischievous as ever."

The Archive says; The Sun are, as usual, talking bollocks if the stills from the new show are to be believed. There's Gnasher gnashing and Dennis slinging.