Banning It Ain't Half Hot Mum from TV is a 'shame', creator says, as non-PC moments are just 'historical truth' Perry, who celebrates his 90th birthday today, said the characters in It Ain't Half Hot Mum were the "historical truth," based on the creator's real experiences with the Royal Artillery in Burma. When asked how he would respond to anyone who accused the sitcom of being racist or homophobic, he said: "I'd tell you straight away, they don't know their history- they don't understand their history and they don't know anything about the British Empire. It's a shame that it never gets repeated today as a whole younger generation would be able to enjoy it. It was at the time the only British sitcom to have been set outside of Britain. I've proposed doing a short film to introduce it which would explain how we came from having the biggest Empire in the world to having a multi-racial society. It Ain't Half Hot Mum helps us understand an important part of our history and the changes which came about. He added Michael Bates, who played bearer Rangi Ram, was not "blacked up" but wore a "light tan," and said telling fictional soldiers that they were "a bunch of poofs" was what Sergeant-Majors did in the Forties. "That's how it was!" he said. It was the reality.