The appropriate response would be: "Oi! Enfield!! No!!!" or perhaps "now I do not believe you wanted to do that." Either way, one of Britiain's top comedians has got himself involved in a diplomatic incident in Manila today after Filipino officials failed to see the funny side of a sketch that mocked domestic workers living in Britain.

The Philippines’ Foreign Secretary summoned the British Ambassador to explain why the BBC had broadcast a comedy skit involving Harry Enfield, in which a Filipina housemaid was cajoled into having sex with a British suburbanite.

Raul Gonzalez, the country’s justice minister, also spoke out pledging to sign a petition that demanded an apology from the national broadcaster. “I don’t like our fellow Filipinos to be insulted,” he said.

The petition has been set up by a group called the Philippine Foundation, which is calling for the re-education of the BBC after the episode of Harry and Paul was broadcast last month. It says: “This particular sketch is completely disgraceful, distasteful and a great example of gutter humour.”

The scene in question depicts a Filipina clad in a traditional maid’s uniform being coaxed into having sex with a disinterested Northern man wearing pyjamas in the front garden of a detached house.

The Harry Enfield character explains to a passing postman: “Our chums up the road wanted to see if we could mate their Filipina maid with our Northerner but he’s not having any of it.”

“Come on Clyde, mount her,” he urges, before barking instructions to the maid. “You, you, present your rear.”

The maid appears to be doing her best to oblige and gyrates in front of the man, before Enfield gives up and orders her to return to the neighbour’s house where she works. “You, you – go home scram,” he says.

Enfield, 47, became one of Britain’s best-loved comedians in the late 1980s after playing a series of characters including Tory Boy and Loadsamoney designed to skewer the established Conservative government and yuppie culture on the popular Saturday Live television series. He went on to enjoy phenomenal success in the 1990s with such favourites as Mr Youdontwanttodoitlikethat and the Self Righteous Brothers.

Enfield returned to the British primetime schedules last month with a new sketch show created with his long-time writing partner Paul Whitehouse, claiming in a recent interview that it would have been far more risqué had producers not banned characters including a Muslim hoodie and a paedophile Catholic priest.

The Filipino government's protest comes a year after it secured an apology from the ABC network in the US after an episode of Desperate Housewives questioned the competence of doctors from the Philippines.

Esteban Conejos, the Foreign Affairs Undersecretary, today said that the embassy in London sent letters to the BBC, as well as to the Secretary of State for Women and the Press Complaints Commission, to protest “this slur on our domestic workers” in Britain.

In Manila, Congresswoman Risa Hontiveros, a women’s rights activist, demanded an apology from the BBC. She described the September 26 episode as “revolting and disgusting” and an “insensitive and racist attempt to satirise a scene of exploitation.”

The BBC has made no comment but the British Embassy in Manila distanced itself from the broadcaster by saying the organisation has editorial independence and the views expressed and portrayed by the network “are completely independent” from the Government.

It said Filipinos in Britain “are an important part of British society, making invaluable contributions to our scientific and service sectors, and enriching UK culture”.

The plight of millions of Filipinos working overseas is a sensitive issue for the Philippines, whose economy is aided by millions of pounds sent home by expatriates.

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