BBC defended the sweary version of Fairytale of New York song in the Gavin and Stacey Christmas special.

The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl's track has the homophobic slur f****t.

But the broadcaster have opted to use the original foul-mouthed soundtrack because the lyrics have been "well-established" with the audience.

The BBC also noted Fairytale of New York is a "very popular, much-loved Christmas song" which has been played on loop in the Christmas season.

Gavin and Stacey show creators James Corden and Ruth Jones made the initial decision to choose the song for the one-off Christmas special.

(Image: BBC)

BBC bosses have thrown their support behind the bosses on this instance.

A spokesperson for the BBC told The Metro : “Fairytale of New York is a very popular, much-loved Christmas song played widely throughout the festive season, and the lyrics are well-established with the audience.”

The decision has caused a stir as LGBT campaigner Peter Tatchell said using the expletive version could send out the wrong message to people coming from the BBC.

He told The Times : "The BBC would not screen a Christmas song with the n-word in it. It would be deemed deeply prejudiced and unacceptable.

“‘So why the double standards when it comes to the f-word?”

The Mirror have approached the BBC for further comment.

(Image: BBC/GS TV Productions Ltd/Tom Jackson)

Fans have been waiting a decade for the Gavin and Stacey reunion on Christmas day.

The beloved sitcom returns to BBC for the first time since 2010 but the now Late Late Show host revealed that the first attempts to write a script with Ruth Jones had been a failure.

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James, 41, had teamed up with 53-year-old Ruth at his home in Los Angeles but their secret writing sessions had not yielded anything they deemed good enough.

After recording around 40 pages of script, to see how it was flowing, James admitted to The Sun it was "deeply depressing" to find it didn't "feel like Gavin and Stacey."

But they struck gold when they penned the best scene yet.

The Gavin & Stacey Christmas Special airs at 8.30pm on BBC One on Christmas Day.