BBC will not play anti-Thatcher 'Ding Dong!' song in full

The BBC will not play the controversial ‘Wizard of Oz’ song ‘Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead’ in full during the Official Chart Show on Sunday, the corporation has confirmed.

The tune, sung by Judy Garland and other ‘Oz’ cast members, has rocketed up the charts in the wake of Margaret Thatcher’s death. It is expected to reach the top five of the Official Singles Chart and is currently number one in the iTunes Download Chart.

[Related story: Ding Dong! enters Top Ten chart after Thatcher death]
[Related story: Interview with teacher who organised Ding Dong! protest]

The BBC Radio 1 controller Ben Cooper said they would play a 5-second snippet of the 51-song during a Newsbeat bulletin.

"The decision I have made is I am not going to play it in full but that I will play a clip of it in a news environment.

"When I say a news environment, that is a newsreader telling you about the fact that this record has reached a certain place in the chart and here is a clip of that track.

"It is a compromise and it is a difficult compromise to come to. You have very difficult and emotional arguments on both sides of the fence.

"Let's not forget you also have a family that is grieving for a loved one who is yet to be buried."

Nobody at Radio 1 wishes to cause offence but nor do I believe that we can ignore the song in the chart show," he wrote.

"To ban the record from our airwaves completely would risk giving the campaign the oxygen of further publicity and might inflame an already delicate situation."

The Facebook group behind the campaign currently has more than 9000 members.

The BBC also released a statement, which read: “The BBC finds this campaign distasteful but does not believe the record should be banned.

"On Sunday, the Radio 1 Chart Show will contain a news item explaining why the song is in the charts during which a short clip will be played as it has been in some of our news programmes."

Baroness Thatcher will be buried in London on Wednesday.