Alan’s Garden Secrets: North Korea censors Titchmarsh's trousers
26 March 2024, 14:47 | Updated: 26 March 2024, 15:03
Alan Titchmarsh’s ‘imperialist’ jeans have been censored by North Korea.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
North Korean state TV blurred out the gardening presenter’s trousers when it aired an episode of Garden Secrets that was filmed in 2010.
North Korea’s Central TV made sure viewers could not see Alan’s jeans, which represent western imperialism in the secretive nation.
Rules prohibiting jeans have been in place since the 1990s when Kim Jong-il declared denim trousers were an American symbol that had no place in a socialist state.
Current leader Kim Jong-Un hates tight jeans and T-shirts bearing Western logos.
Read more: Florida bans social media for under-14s in restrictive new law for children
State-run newspaper Rodong Sinmun told Korea’s citizens in 2020 to reject what it termed "bourgeois culture" in favour of a "superior socialist lifestyle".
In the episode that was aired on Monday, Titchmarsh can be seen kneeling in soil, the sleeves of his checked shirt rolled up, plant pots and pruning shears at the ready.
His jeans, however, are blurred - but they are still clearly denim.
Alan said in 2022: “I never imagined that my programmes would reach North Korea, but hopefully the calming nature of British gardening will be well received there.”
