Michael Palin, globetrotting comedian and high-profile documentary maker, has spoken out against the BBC’s rebuke of his travel show New Europe. Palin has told of being let down and angry after his latest television adventure was censured by the BBC trust.

The controversy arose from a viewer complaint following the shows first episode of New Europe last year, Palin’s seventh travel show for the BBC. In the series Palin travelled parts of Eastern Europe in a bid to discover how countries had been affected since the disbanding of the former Soviet Union and Yugoslavia

It is understood that a serial complainer had written to the BBC to express his feelings that comments made over the Balkan wars were inaccurate and bordered on political commentary. The correspondent had implied that Palin had not attributed a correct amount of blame to the Serbs for the atrocities.

The BBC standards committee deemed Palin had oversimplified the issue in his show and rebuked the producers for not taking greater care to ensure accuracy, and that non-news programs had an obligation to carefully check facts.

It has been over 12 months since the decision was handed down but Palin is obviously still riled by the admonishment. He told a Royal Television Society lunch that the decision brought the BBS itself into disrepute. Palin said everyone was entitled to their opinions but the censure was unwarranted. He also claimed that shows these days had far less creative freedom that 30 years ago when he starred in the Monty Python series, something which Palin doubts would make it to air today.