Bloody hell! UK censors risque Aussie ads

CANBERRA (Reuters) - The country that gave the world such risque comic acts as Benny Hill, the Two Ronnies and Little Britain has banned Australia's new "bloody hell" tourism ads from television because they are too rude.

Australian Tourism Minister Fran Bailey said Britain had banned Australia's new "bloody hell" tourism television ads, which end with a bikini-clad woman on a beach asking "so where the bloody hell are you?", although the ads would still screen in cinemas and appear in print.

"The regulators have clearly misplaced their sense of humour -- and this from a country that brought us Benny Hill, (the) Two Ronnies and Little Britain," Bailey said in a statement on Thursday.

She said she had written to Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Tessa Jowell, to have the television ban overturned. Meanwhile, censored ads would run in their place.

But Tourism Australia was unfazed by the TV ban, welcoming it as unexpected publicity for the campaign.

"It's a bit of a PR dream," Tourism Australia managing director Scott Morrison told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.

"This is a great opportunity to really promote the campaign. We'll be driving people to the Internet like there's no tomorrow," he said. The ads are the centrepiece of a A$180 million (76 million pounds) campaign to lure tourists to Australia. The campaign, which is already running in the United States and New Zealand, will also target China, Japan, India and Germany as well as Britain.

The full advertisement can be seen at here.