BBC Aired Family Guy Featuring Robin Williams and Attempted Suicide as News Broke of Star's Death

BBC Three broadcast an episode of US cartoon Family Guy last night, which mocks Robin Williams, around the same time as the star's death was reported worldwide.

In a bizarre coincidence, the episode also depicts a failed suicide attempt.

Viewers were shocked over the uncanny timing after watching the episode, entitled 'Fatman and Robin', where main character Peter Griffin is cursed with the ability to turn everything he touches into one of Robin Williams' famous characters.

During the episode, Peter attempts to commit suicide to stop the star from appearing before finally cutting both his hands off to end the spell.

People took to social media to voice their confusion over the episode, which was aired on BBC Three at 11.25pm last night, branding it "weird" and a "bizarre coincidence".

Williams passed away after a suspected suicide outside his Californian home on Monday and the news broke in the UK around 11.50pm.

A spokeswoman for the BBC described it as an "uncanny coincidence" and said plans to repeat the episode this Friday had been pulled.

She said: "The episode ended just as the news broke about his death.

"This was a repeat that we have shown a couple of times before so who could have planned that?"

Today Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane said: "The world just got a lot less funny. Robin Williams is a tragic loss."