And finally… sacré bleu

North Korea’s state broadcaster has censored an old episode of an Alan Titchmarsh gardening show, blurring his blue jeans as an apparent symbol of western imperialism.

Episodes of BBC series Garden Secrets have since 2022 been regularly broadcast in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), where jeans have been banned since the early 1990s, NK News reports.

A broadcast on Monday blurred Mr Titchmarsh’s jeans, though it was still obvious that he was wearing blue jeans.

The episode, originally aired in the UK in 2010, includes scenes where the celebrity gardener wears jeans while kneeling in a flowerbed to tend to plants.

Mr Titchmarsh told the Daily Mail: “I never imagined that my programmes would reach North Korea, but hopefully the calming nature of British gardening will be well received there.”

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