Jim Davidson has claimed the BBC are refusing to sell him the rights to rerun his iconic programmes The Generation Game and Big Break for broadcast on his TV channel UStreme. Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk, the 71-year-old funnyman said his buyer had tried to purchase the rights to the shows and was told it's "not right" for his TV channel. Jim set up UStreme during the Covid lockdowns when he was unable to perform, and it is now a fully fledged TV service

"My person who works for us, he's a buyer, he spoke to BBC, and they said we cannot buy The Generation Game because we don't like the channel (UStreme). We don't think it sits well on that channel. I starred in The Generation Game for seven years, and some woke bird and the BBC decides that it's not right for the person who basically wrote The Generation Game - it was Jim Davidson's Generation Game - and starred in it, it's not right for his TV channel," he fumed.

"It's the same with Big Break," he said, referring to the hugely popular snooker-based quiz show he fronted for 10 series between 1991 and 2002. "'No, we don't think the channel is right for that.’ Basically, they're saying, we don't like Jim Davidson, so we don't want to help with his success.’ These are the people that gave me £ 1 million to go away. A million pounds of your money. Your BBC licence fee. Because they didn't want to be there anymore," he said.

Almost overnight, Jim went from being Mr. Saturday Night with a huge presence on TV - in his own words, he says "I was like Bradley Walsh, I was on everything" - to being pulled off screens, first losing The Generation Game and shortly afterwards Big Break. At the time, the then BBC controller of programming Lorraine Heggessy released a statement saying: "Jim is a fantastic entertainer who knows how to amuse audiences young and old. He has done a terrific job, and I am sure he will continue to delight viewers with his new ideas for the channel. Jim will be a hard act to follow so we need to think carefully about what's next for the Generation Game."

However, although it was years before cancel culture became part of the zeitgeist, Jim claims he was effectively frozen out due to political correctness."I'll tell you what happened. It (the BBC) moved into political correctness. It wasn't called woke then. It was political correctness. You mustn't tell jokes, you mustn't offend, you mustn't do this. And of course, it didn't sit well with them - South East London boy, married three times, Jack the lad, banned from driving.

"I was a working class presenter on the BBC. I wasn't gay. I liked a drink, and they did not like the image. All because of a woman, a new woman, head of light entertainment, that turned up and said, let's get rid of him," he said. Ironically, Jim is now the one who gets to make decisions about who gets airtime and who doesn't. He is about to record his 500th episode of his show This Week, where he gives his unique take on the world and current affairs, on April 1st.

This is despite initial panic that he wouldn't "be able to do this once a week or twice a week" due to the pressure of creating material. However, world events have ensured he has plenty to comment on, and the channel is going from strength to strength. Alongside his show and other original programming, he also shows programmes by Freddie Starr, Roy "Chubby" Brown, and Jimmy Jones - "all the people that you can't see on television anymore."

"My mainstream career is over. Apart from if you look at Channel Fived. They did a documentary about me a while ago, and they've repeated it twice now because these ratings are so good. Would I step back into mainstream? Well, come on, every girl has a price, doesn't she?" he quipped. However, despite the workload and responsibility, for now, Jim is happy being the proud owner of a TV channel where he calls the shots. "I see myself now as now as an extremely attractive elderly man who is a TV executive and entrepreneur. If I was Russian, you'd be calling me an oligarch," he laughed.