North Korea censors Alan Titchmarsh’s trousers

Central TV aired a 2010 edition of Alan Titchmarsh’s Garden Secrets for its morning audience. Jeans are seen as a symbol of western imperialism in the secretive state and as such are banned. Mr Titch marsh said the news has given him ‘a bit of street cred’ North Korea has banned denim trousers since the 1990s. Leader Kim Jong-il declared denim trousers to be a symbol of Western imperialism.

He said his jeans were not too tight, but were clearly not acceptable in North Korea. He told the BBC: “I’ve never seen myself as a dangerous subversive imperialist” Current leader Kim Jong-un is reportedly irked by skinny jeans and T-shirts bearing Western logos which are popular in South Korea. Western programming is extremely rare on North Korean screens, as the regime is careful - to the point of paranoia - about allowing foreign culture to enter the country. Garden Secrets has been aired before on Central TV.

Mr Titchmarsh said he was surprised to appear on screens in the Communist state. It is still not entirely clear how it arrived in North Korea in the first place. While satellite dishes and access to the global internet are banned except for the very few trusted classes in Pyongyang. North Korean TV often pirates content from foreign broadcasters.

This is often the case with their airing of Premier League, Champions League, and International football. Owning or trading in foreign media is illegal in the East Asian state. In 2014, there were discussions about gifting UK television programmes to North Korea. It“s not known if Alan Titchmarsh’s Garden Secrets was part of this package, or even if the programmes were delivered at all.

But Teletubbies could be an option, or The Good Life, with a bit of gardening and squabbling in the kitchen.