Wilfrid Brambell’s rag-and-bone man Albert is my all-time favourite sitcom creation, the old man’s sly manipulation of his son simultaneously creating both the comedy and the pathos of “Steptoe and Son”. Fighting over who gets to watch what on the box, in one episode, for example, transcends a simple domestic squabble! While the son thinks he’ll improve himself by watching the ballet on BBC Two, dad wants the blood and guts of the horror film over on ITV! This is akin to the rampant snobbishness regarding television writing itself which, in turn, reflects people’s attitudes, generally, towards things they perceive as beneath them in life. I don’t think Ray Galton and Alan Simpson’s scripts should be underestimated. They’re of a much higher quality than most of today’s fare and, to be fair, there isn’t much that can compare with Shakespeare!
There were eight series of “Steptoe and Son”, four in black and white, made in the Sixties, and, after a five-year break, four in colour, produced during the early Seventies. My favourite episode of the fifty-seven, “A Star is Born”, is from the Seventh Series, extracts from which were re-enacted by Jason Isaacs as Harry H. Corbett, as Harold, with Phil Davis as Brambell, as Albert Edward Ladysmith Steptoe to give the character his full name, in BBC Four’s “The Curse of Steptoe”. Harold is re-enacting his audition piece for an amateur dramatics company, in front of his father, only to be ridiculed for his choice of material - “On the Waterfront” rather than “Bard of Avon”!
I went to a BBC Experience day a few years back, ostensibly to view the “Doctor Who” exhibits, but found myself deep in conversation with one of the guys running the stand devoted to the Tony Hancock Appreciation Society. It transpired this fan knew Galton and had been cataloguing his scripts for him! Interestingly, Burn Gorman, taking a break from playing dead in “Torchwood”, featured as Ray Galton in “The Curse of Steptoe”, though, with beard, he bore more than a passing resemblance to D H Lawrence! And, incidentally, “The Vice” actor Ken Stott will be giving Hancock, an earlier Galton and Simpson success, his best shot in next week’s edition of this drama anthology.
There were eight series of “Steptoe and Son”, four in black and white, made in the Sixties, and, after a five-year break, four in colour, produced during the early Seventies. My favourite episode of the fifty-seven, “A Star is Born”, is from the Seventh Series, extracts from which were re-enacted by Jason Isaacs as Harry H. Corbett, as Harold, with Phil Davis as Brambell, as Albert Edward Ladysmith Steptoe to give the character his full name, in BBC Four’s “The Curse of Steptoe”. Harold is re-enacting his audition piece for an amateur dramatics company, in front of his father, only to be ridiculed for his choice of material - “On the Waterfront” rather than “Bard of Avon”!
I went to a BBC Experience day a few years back, ostensibly to view the “Doctor Who” exhibits, but found myself deep in conversation with one of the guys running the stand devoted to the Tony Hancock Appreciation Society. It transpired this fan knew Galton and had been cataloguing his scripts for him! Interestingly, Burn Gorman, taking a break from playing dead in “Torchwood”, featured as Ray Galton in “The Curse of Steptoe”, though, with beard, he bore more than a passing resemblance to D H Lawrence! And, incidentally, “The Vice” actor Ken Stott will be giving Hancock, an earlier Galton and Simpson success, his best shot in next week’s edition of this drama anthology.
2 comments:
As you know I was greatly impressed with the Beeb's Curse Of Steptoe... I'm quite looking forward to seeing David Walliams as Frankie Howard though not without some sense of trepidation. Howard is one of my all time favourite comedians but he's damned hard to emulate... I do wonder if Walliams has the the skill to do it. Seeing Steptoe again has given me a yearning to check on Amazon for any boxed sets that might be available...!
I watched David Walliams in a recent Stephen Poliakoff play and he was adequate, better than I expected though. I see Trevor Eve is playing Hughie Green and looks remarkably like him after make-up, in the still I saw.
Not sure about boxed sets but the "Steptoe" series are certainly available individually because I have some of them. You might want to check WHS, too, as they invariably have an offer on.
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