The BBC has spoken out about the decision to air an uncensored version of The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl’s Fairytale Of New York in the new Gavin & Stacey Christmas special.

In recent years, the Christmas song has proved to be a divisive one, mostly because it contains a line in which Kirsty uses the homophobic slur “f****t”, which many have claimed should be cut from the song when it’s played on the radio.

Others have also taken issue with lyrics like “you’re an old slut on junk”, which they also feel is not appropriate for radio broadcast.

In the new Gavin & Stacey Christmas special, Metro has reported that the song is performed by the characters Nessa and Bryn, with the controversial slurs remaining intact.

In response to this, a BBC rep told the site: “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 new Gavin & Stacey episode, which will reunite the Bafta-winning sitcom’s entire cast, will air at 8.30pm on BBC One on Christmas Day.

Last week, The Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan admitted he “didn’t understand” the backlash to his song, or how the term “f****t” could be “insulting to gays”.

“Fuck that,” he said, during an appearance on Ireland’s Late Late Show. “Nobody in the band thinks that’s worth a second’s thought.”

He then went on to perform the song on the show, with Shane and singer Philomena Begley singing the whole thing uncensored.

When asked about the controversy a year earlier, Shane claimed: “She is a woman of a certain generation at a certain time in history and she is down on her luck and desperate. Her dialogue is as accurate as I could make it but she is not intended to offend.

“She is just supposed to be an authentic character and not all characters in songs and stories are angels or even decent and respectable, sometimes characters in songs and stories have to be evil or nasty in order to tell the story effectively.

“If people don’t understand that I was trying to accurately portray the character as authentically as possible, then I am absolutely fine with them bleeping the word, but I don’t want to get into an argument.”