Ken Russell funeral banned by the BBFC

29-11-11

KEN Russell's funeral will need major cuts, according to the British Board of Funeral Classification.

Perhaps not quite so much horse urine

The barking auteur's last will includes a storyboard based on of the works of the Marquis De Sade and calls for a cast of 300 nude extras.

Starting with a three-day Roman orgy around his open casket, in which he will be dressed as the god Bacchus, Russell then asked for his coffin to be paraded through the streets in a penis-shaped carriage towed by eight midgets dressed as Hitler.

Funeral censor Roy Hobbs said: "Apart from anything else I'm not sure the family are going to find a vicar who is willing to have their church decked out like an inquisition torture chamber.

"So the fact that Barry Humphries has agreed to star as a transvestite altar boy is neither here nor there."

Hopes are high that Russell will get the controversial burial he created and Mark Kermode has already asked the BBC to commission a six-part series on the funeral.

Russell's family say he died peacefully at home, shouting instructions to his doctor through a megaphone.

A spokesman said: "The funeral is already way over budget and we may need to look to foreign investors if we want to include the 250-foot exploding crucifix."