Love Thy Neighbour Page 7

'Sambo' seemed to be Eddie's favourite if I remember right. You wouldn't show LTN now but I don't remember it as being nasty or harsh in the slightest, not for the times. It certainly didn't know it was being 'racist', it knew it was making comedy of racial divisions obviously, but there was a complete harmlessness about it and as it's been said many times, Eddie's the butt of the comedy. We are laughing with the black guy at the bigoted white guy exactly like we do to Alf Garnet.

You can't look at 1970s racially themed sitcoms with 2010s eyes, Pingl, you certainly can't judge the intent this way, it were different then, as I'm sure you really know. I could be wrong but I don't remember anyone making any fuss about LTN back in 1975. Remember seeing the film at the pics and loving it, and it was a packed house. LTN really was a fun, loud and bawdy sitcom!

You're right, you can't judge it by today's standards. But you also can't give it some post modern sheen that makes what was acceptable then acceptable now. I'm sure you remember those days as well as I do. Enoch Powell etc. What I'm saying is intent or not, it was not, in my opinion, groundbreaking or important either then or now. I'm not an arbiter of taste for anyone but myself, and I found it tasteless then and tasteless now.

Quote: Pingl @ September 13 2012, 9:54 PM BST

But you also can't give it some post modern sheen that makes what was acceptable then acceptable now.

View original

No, not on the BBC maybe, but it's freely available on DVD, so it hasn't been banned! If a couple of million viewers wanted to watch this and enjoy it on DVD then that would in a way, destroy any notion of it not being acceptable now. It is naturally acceptable to all those who wish to buy or rent it and watch it, if not for general viewing on a public channel.

Same with all those acts the PC brigade would ban if they could, they aren't banned! Meaning, there are still plenty left who do not care for modern PC's concerns and will enjoy humour of all hues if it makes them laugh. That freedom should be there, and thankfully still is. I think I'll buy myself a copy of LTN now incase they do sell out.

Good luck, I hope you enjoy it, These kind of things are best left to the privacy of one's own home.

Yep, lemme know if you want to borrow it.

I'll pass thanks.

Quote: Pingl @ September 13 2012, 9:54 PM BST

You're right, you can't judge it by today's standards. But you also can't give it some post modern sheen that makes what was acceptable then acceptable now. I'm sure you remember those days as well as I do. Enoch Powell etc. What I'm saying is intent or not, it was not, in my opinion, groundbreaking or important either then or now. I'm not an arbiter of taste for anyone but myself, and I found it tasteless then and tasteless now.

View original

My teacher at Primary School was Peter Griffiths . . .

Griffiths the Tory MP? One of Powell's acolytes. What was that like?

Yes, the very man

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Griffiths

He was a teacher as far as I remember . . no more , no less.

Does 'Love Thy Neighbour' ever get shown on GOLD or ITV3 at all?

Almost definitely not! Can't think it's ever been on the repeat channels, I don't think it's ever been repeated full stop, maybe while it was still airing. Be a brave channel to put that out again, but I probably can see Channel 4 do it for a bit of ratings successful controversy the way they often do, so you never know.

I seem to recall UK Gold repeating the series to some extent back in the 1990s.

I was going to say I can't speak for Gold because I've only had it a year or two but ITV since the 80s have been incredibly cautious and PC wise so big no for them. Was all the name calling in the Gold repeats, I'd be surprised if they had the N word in tbh.

That I am not certain of. They edited a lot in the early days, and even today continue to bleep the slightest 'bloody' during the day.

Same with MYL, I've never seen that repeated. That's far more 'racist' and unPC than LTN even though it came later, but that's a much lesser sitcom, far cruder and probably did deserve a slating from the PC lot. I'm not sure LTN did, but it's so long since I've seen it, so maybe I'm rosying it up, just because I remember liking it at the time. It was still a much better sitcom than the awful cheap flatpack looking MYL.