Steptoe and son started as one of the BBC's comedy pilot's known as Comedy Playhouse in 1962 with the episode "The Offer" It was positively received by the viewers and given the green light for a full series and we are fortunate to have been gifted this landmark series. The Steptoe and son of the show's eponymous title are father and son, Albert and Harold - two expertly written characters from the pens of legendary comedy writers Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, proprietors of a rag and bone yard in a London suburb who battle against the odds and with one another on a daily basis. Much comedy and drama filter through the fine erudite scripts with social commentary woven into the clever storylines. Add to that great nuaced performances from the two leads who in many episodes are the only two people in the whole episode - What other show could do that and still deliver comedy that stands repeated viewings. It was so successful that 2 feature films were made and were a big hit in cinema's and it's format and scripts were adapted in several countries, notably in the U.S. where it became Sanford and son. Ground breaking in many ways, in language used, generational confrontation and topics covered (death, fraud, poverty, bigotry) there are very few series that come close to it's multi-dimensional character development in the comedy genre.
Review of Steptoe and Son
