Matt Lucas and David Walliams have issued a joint apology for their previous use of blackface in Little Britain and Come Fly With Me.

Both shows were removed by Netflix and the BBC iPlayer last week due to race concerns, with characters such as Desiree DeVere, Ting Tong and Precious Little having caused offence.

Lucas previously admitted that some of the characters portrayed in the comedy would no longer be appropriate, and now the duo have gone one step further and admitted that they were not appropriate in the first place.

"David and I have both spoken publicly in recent years of our regret that we played characters of other races," Lucas wrote on Twitter. "Once again, we want to make it clear that it was wrong and we are very sorry."

Walliams posted a similar message on his own account.