Steptoe and Son

I know this is really old but I've been re-watching the DVDs recently (cheers Aaron) and it's amazing how much emotional pain Harold goes through, especially in the early ones. It could be a drama if it wasn't so bloody funny.

There is a lot to learn from it from a writing point of view but more importantly it is just fun to watch. I do feel for poor harold sometimes though.

What other sitcoms have this level of pain for the characters? I know Partridge has a nervous breakdown but he doesn't really garner the viewers sympathy.

Any suggestions?

Thingy in Game On is properly a bit mental with his agrophobia.
If that counts.
I felt sorry for him.

Oh yeah! Wasn't he always getting laid though? bastard.

I don't think so.

In real life yes. In the show no. He just lied about it.

oh yeah, my memory fails me. I felt more sorry for his flat mate (martin?) who got some awful stick.

He loved it.

Quote: jacparov @ January 27, 2008, 8:35 PM

I know this is really old but I've been re- watching the dvds recently(cheers Aaron) and it's amazing how much emotional pain Harold goes through, especially in the early ones. It could be a drama if it wasn't so bloody funny.

There is a lot to learn from it from a writing point of view but more importantly it is just fun to watch. I do feel for poor harold sometimes though.

What other sitcoms have this level of pain for the characters? I know Partridge has a nervous breakdown but he doesn't really garner the viewers sympathy.

Any suggestions?

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When I spoke to Galton & Simpson they told me that Steptoe was part of a series called Comedy Playhouse. That I knew but what I didn't know was that they specific wanted character actors rather than comedians to play the roles to bring the most out the frustrations of the situation.

Wilfred Bramble and Harry H Corbett were used to theatre roles that required those skills which, conversely, they could ably use in a comedic sense too.

I learned that day something that in hindsight is glaringly obvious. Comedy has nothing to do with situation but is all about relationships, how people react with each other. So forget your situation and work on building colourful and complex characters because if you crack that they can work in ANY situation.

And according to the blurb they wrote (very funny it is too) for the back of the box set, they didn't actually want to extend it beyond The Offer, but "Captain" Tom Sloan, then the Head of Light Entertainment, insisted:

"Having had all our reasons for not doing a series dismissed by Captain Tom we said that if Harry and Willy, two very distinguised straight actors, wished to demean themselves by doing a mere comedy series for the hoi-polloi then we would do it. They bit his hand off. How little did we know about actors. That by the simple act of being in a light entertainment show they would earn ten times that of a drama engagement."

And bloody spooky (ish) that this thread popped up today, as I've been watching S&S myself (series three to be precise). It really is amazingly crafted stuff, and Harold's immortal "dirty old man" put downs never fail to crack me up. All hail Galton and Simpson!

As for pain, I don't think that Richard Bucket had it particularly easy. Also, a bit diluted, but Rodney's continued holding back by Del is kind of similar.

Doesn't dear ol' Basil go through a lot of pain? Or, would that be the long-suffering Sybil?

This ''sitcom'', (I think the term actually bellittles the greatness of it!)
has everything, there has been nothing to touch it , even when it was mediocre ,it was still above any other of it's genre.

Only fools and horses , has a link to Steptoe, Wilfrid Brambell, played a lift attendant in an episode of Citizen Smith in 1979 entitled ''only fools and horses'' weitten by John Sullivan....

Every episode has a magic to it, that makes one feel privy to the actual lives of two complicated men, who are NOT TRYING TO BE FUNNY IN THE LEAST.

Now go watch a 2008 sitcom....

Yep, love it. Must remember to watch more.

As for your question. Err... Victor Meldrew? Pretty nice guy, everyone else was the bastard.

Quote: Rockabilly @ January 28, 2008, 1:12 PM

Only fools and horses , has a link to Steptoe, Wilfrid Brambell, played a lift attendant in an episode of Citizen Smith in 1979 entitled ''only fools and horses'' weitten by John Sullivan....

View original

Well Leonard Rossiter was in at least two episodes, and he of course played alongside Richard Beckinsale in Rising Damp, who worked with David Jason in Porridge, who was the star of Only Fools and Horses.

Thanks for the replys, as for the pain bit I can't think of anyone at the moment who comes close. I series one alone Harold at the end of separate episodes Harold is A)Weeping B)Smashing up the room C)Staring out the window. Some of the faces that Albert pulls are just amazing though.

Quote: Jolanta Zofia Nowak @ January 28, 2008, 10:49 AM

Doesn't dear ol' Basil go through a lot of pain? Or, would that be the long-suffering Sybil?

View original

I was going to suggest Basil. He's in almost perpetual turmoil. There's that great scene (I think it's in the one with the deaf woman) when he's sat in the office talking to God about life having passed him by.

In common with Steptoe, they are both hopelessly trapped.

S&S one of the few comedies I thought got better with time. Perhaps because they were character actors and they filled the roles? I don't know, but it was top stuff.