BBC Radio 1 will not play the original version of Fairytale of New York by The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl this Christmas, because its audience may be offended by some of the lyrics.

The station said young listeners were particularly sensitive to derogatory terms for gender and sexuality.

It will instead play an edited version with different lyrics sung by MacColl.

But the 1987 original will still be played on Radio 2, while 6 Music DJs can choose between the two versions.

A BBC spokesman said: "We know the song is considered a Christmas classic and we will continue to play it this year, with our radio stations choosing the version of the song most relevant for their audience."

The duet is one of the most enduring Christmas pop songs, having returned to the UK top 20 every year since 2005. Along with a string of other festive favourites, it is now rising the chart again, at 59 in the current midweek chart.

But Radio 1 has decided younger listeners who are unfamiliar with the track would find some of the words stark and not in line with what they would expect to hear on air.

The new edited version alters two lines - one swapped for an alternative version in which MacColl sings "You're cheap and you're haggard" in place of a homophobic slur.

MacColl sung the new line on Top of the Pops in 1992. She died in a boat accident in Mexico eight years later, at the age of 41.

The same wording was used by Ronan Keating and Moya Brennan in their 2000 cover version. When Ed Sheeran and Anne-Marie performed the song in Radio 1's Live Lounge in 2017, she opted to call him a "cheap lousy blagger".

In Radio 1's newly-edited version, another line, sung by Shane MacGowan in the second verse, has a word removed entirely.

Radio 1 has played the song in its original form in recent years, but the insults contained in the lyrics, sung in the form of a blazing row between an alcoholic and a heroin addict, have long been criticised by some.

The track was censored by Radio 1 back in 2007, but that decision was swiftly reversed after an outcry by its fans.

Andy Parfitt, the station's controller at the time, explained the U-turn by saying its audiences were "smart enough to distinguish between maliciousness and creative freedom", and there was no "negative intent behind the use of the words".

Aled Haydn-Jones, who worked as producer of Chris Moyles' breakfast show at the time, was made head of Radio 1 this June.

Last year, there were hundreds of complaints after Gavin and Stacey characters Nessa and Bryn sung the unedited version in the sitcom's seasonal special.

This Christmas, Radio 2 said it had considered the issue carefully and would continue to monitor listeners' views, but had decided to continue to play the original.

6 Music, meanwhile, has said both versions can be played, at the discretion of each individual presenter.

When will people stop this nonsense about being offended it doesn't matter if the song says "faggott" or "$l*t" it has been playing up and down the land for 33 years and now suddenly "OMG He said faggot" get a grip.

I watched an episode of the Bill on Youtube yesterday from 1994 a character said "coloured person" am I supposed to get all red in the face and throw something at the laptop?

Stop trying to change history the song is from 1987 and depicts the language that was used it isn't a song which uses language from 2020 people need to realise this and accept what was made at the time will use references from that time.

Even The Pogues on Twitter are fed up of this by the sounds of it, in fact they seem fed up that it's that time of year again but they won't be fed up when the cheque comes through in January.

When will people stop this nonsense about being offended it doesn't matter if the song says "faggott" or "$l*t" it has been playing up and down the land for 33 years and now suddenly "OMG He said faggot" get a grip.

I watched an episode of the Bill on Youtube yesterday from 1994 a character said "coloured person" am I supposed to get all red in the face and throw something at the laptop?

Stop trying to change history the song is from 1987 and depicts the language that was used it isn't a song which uses language from 2020 people need to realise this and accept what was made at the time will use references from that time.

Even The Pogues on Twitter are fed up of this by the sounds of it, in fact they seem fed up that it's that time of year again but they won't be fed up when the cheque comes through in January.

So should one of the biggest hits of the year “Wet Ass Pussy” not be censored at 11am on a Monday morning, because it’s “the language people are using at the time”?