IT was the channel which brought us horrors like Snog, Marry, Avoid and Sun, Sex and Suspicious Parents.

But it’s also the channel which brought us that modern comedy classic Gavin & Stacey.

News that BBC3 may be axed has been met with mixed emotions.

On one hand, it could be argued that programme after programme about young people having sex is possibly not part of the public service remit to inform, educate and entertain.

But writers and comics like Matt Lucas and Jack Whitehall, whose material was first aired on the channel, are aghast at the suggestion.

Bosses plan to pop all the content online. But, trendy as these young things are, they still like to tune into the gogglebox like the rest of us.

As a business decision, it makes sense. But this costcutting exercise will be the death of a channel which has put out arguably the greatest British comedy of the modern era.

Take Gavin & Stacey.

Launched on BBC3, the celebrated sitcom about the trials and tribulations of a long-distance couple and their dysfunctional families soon headed to a flagship BBC1 slot and won dozens of awards and millions of fans.

Without BBC3 that might never have happened and that would have been a crying shame.

Because, as my favourite character Nessa would say, I’m not being funny right, but it was cracking.

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