Mary Whitehouse: who was activist against British media, is she still alive - and when is documentary on TV?

A new BBC Two documentary, Banned! The Mary Whitehouse Story, explores the life and legacy of social conservative campaigner and general buzzkill Mary Whitehouse.

Julie Walters, who played Molly Weasley in the Harry Potter franchise, will take on the role of Whitehouse for the docuseries.

The series comes at a time when free speech and ‘cancel culture’ are at the centre of debate.

But who was Mary Whitehouse, the original champion of cancel culture, and what did she protest?

This is everything you need to know.

Who was Mary Whitehouse?

Whitehouse was a Midlands housewife and teacher who worked for three decades to campaign against the more liberal mainstream media that became prominent in the 1960s.

Born in Nuneaton in 1910, Whitehouse later became involved in the Student Christian Movement in the 1930s.

Her deeply held traditionalist Christian beliefs influenced her intolerance of much of what she saw broadcast on television.

Whitehouse founded the National Viewers’ and Listeners’ Association, which would later become Mediawatch-UK, a pressure group designed to push back against content it thought was offensive.

What did Mary Whitehouse campaign against?

The sexual revolution of the 1960s brought rapid social change across the UK, and was seen clearly in changes to television content.

Major changes included a more permissive attitude to the airing of cursing, sex, and violence.

Whitehouse was a leading figure in the Festival of Light, which held mass rallies at Trafalgar Square in the 1970s in protest of the “permissive society”.

A primary target of Whitehouse, and the National Viewers’ and Listeners’ Association was the BBC.

But she also took aim at controversial films like Last Tango in Paris which featured an infamous graphic sex scene.

Whitehouse also came up against feminists and the gay rights movement in her relentless quest to shape British media and culture into her own version of moral purity.

While some saw Whitehouse as a positive figure who stood up against a ‘moral decline’ in British values, many more were concerned about censorship.

Is Mary Whitehouse still alive?

Whitehouse died in Colchester in 2001, aged 91.

While it can be generally said that Whitehouse’s push reform was unsuccessful in the long run - sex and violence is easier to find on TV today than it ever was in her lifetime, her views are still echoed by certain sections of society.

Concerns over everything from gay characters on Sesame Street, to trans rights continue to be discussed by a vocal minority.

One of Whitehouse’s most lasting (and unintentional) legacies was The Mary Whitehouse Experience, a comedy sketch show named after Whitehouse in an effort to mock her puritanical views.

How can I watch Banned! on TV?

Banned! The Mary Whitehouse Story will air on 29 March at 9pm on BBC Two - it is on after the watershed so be warned, the programme may feature some of the bad language Whitehouse was so concerned about.

The second episode of the two-part series will air at the same time on 5 April.

Both episodes will also be available to stream on BBC iPlayer shortly after they are first broadcast.