Father Ted creator and gender-critical campaigner Graham Linehan does not feel he has a future in the UK, after he was arrested for making threatening online posts about trans people.

Linehan, who is known for his anti-trans views, was arrested at Heathrow airport with regard to “three tweets”, after flying in from the US on 1 September. The Metropolitan Police confirmed a man in his fifties was detained on suspicion of inciting violence, relating to a series of posts on X/Twitter.

On his Substack, Linehan posted screenshots of the social media posts purported to be the ones for which he was arrested, including one that said trans women should be punched “in the balls”.

He has claimed that his conditional bail included not being allowed to use X but appeared to breach that condition just days later, PinkNews exclusively reported.

Speaking to the BBC about his arrest, the comedy writer indicated that he was happier in the US.

“I find the UK culturally a desert,” he said. “I am disgusted with all my old colleagues in comedy and theatre who have just watched as I’ve been beaten up in the dark by these people. I don’t really want to have anything to do with them, I don’t think there really is anything for me here.”

The US “really feels like it values free speech”, he went on to say. “It just feels I can relax a little bit more in America. I know I won’t get my collar felt for telling a joke.”

Linehan said he doesn’t regret the posts which landed him in hot water, adding: “Sometimes I’ve tweeted a bit more out of anger because of the frustration that no one’s paying attention to this issue.”

His arrest re-ignited the debate about free speech vs hate speech, with politicians, political pundits and social media users all weighing in on the topic. Health secretary Wes Streeting said the government would rather see “police on the streets rather than policing tweets”.

Speaking to Sky News, Streeting, who now regrets ever saying trans women are women, said: “It’s the easiest thing in the world for people to criticise the police but they are enforcing laws that parliament has passed and asked them to enforce.

“If we haven’t got the balance right, as parliament over successive governments, that is something that we need to look at because the home secretary is very clear about what her priorities are”.

Appearing before the House Judiciary Committee, in the US, during a session on free speech on Wednesday (3 September), Reform UK leader Nigel Farage mentioned Linehan’s situation.

Farage claimed the UK had “sunk into [a] really awful authoritarian situation” and had become North Korea. He cited Linehan’s arrest and the case of Lucy Connolly, who was jailed after pleading guilty to inciting racial hatred by publishing and distributing “threatening or abusive” written material on X, as examples of free speech being quashed in Britain.

However, Democrat congressman Jamie Raskin branded Farage a “Putin-loving, free-speech impostor and Trump sycophant”, adding: “He should go and advance the positions he’s taking here today in parliament, which is [also] meeting today, if he’s serious about it.”

Linehan is currently facing trial at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, on a separate matter, accused of harassment of trans woman Sophia Brooks and criminal damage. He has denied both charges.

The case has been adjourned until 29 October.

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