Matt Williams

Members of the Filipino community staged a silent vigil outside the BBC yesterday in an attempt to force the broadcaster to apologise over a "sexist, racist and immoral" Harry Enfield sketch.

The group were protesting at a comedy skit in which a character's "pet Northerner" is urged to "mount" a neighbour's Filipina maid.

Protesters held banners stating: "Sexual abuse and exploitation is no joke," and "Comedy is not an excuse for prejudice." The sketch that caused the offence was part of the Harry And Paul show aired on BBC1 on September 26 and repeated on BBC2 three days later.

During a segment of the show a man can be seen urging his lethargic pet Northerner to have sex with a Filipina maid who is wriggling provocatively.

Enfield's character tells a passing postman: "Our chums up the road want to see if we could mate their Filipina maid with our Northerner, but he's not having any of it."

He encourages the Northerner, saying: "Come on Clyde, mount her."

A spokesman for the BBC said: "The producers felt that the sketch in question was so far beyond the realms of reality that it would be very unlikely to cause any offence."