British Comedy Guide

Curry & Chips

I had heard of the title of this sitcom but knew little else about it until I came across an episode on You Tube quite by accident. It appears to be episode 2, the one where Kenny wins the pools. I watched the whole episode and wow, they don't make them like that anymore!

From doing a little digging it turns out that the idea behind this sitcom was to highlight and ridule racial bigotry, but the number of complaints the show got for being racist meant it never went beyond 6 episodes.

On a first glance it does appear to poke fun at the 'non white' people but on a more thorough watch I would say there is a bit more to it than meets the eye. Does it hit the mark in highlighting race issues? To be honest I'm not sure if it does successfully. The name calling is too blatant and in your face whereas the message behind it is more subtle and requires more work from the average viewer.

I would suggest that the 'average' tv viewer sitting down for an half hour of laughs would sees the obvious bits first and may have already made up there mind about the show before they have been able to look any further.

Nonetheless, it's another comedy I have discovered from yesteryear. In our modern PC times where we are so used to sugar coating everything that we do so as not to offend, Curry & Chips is like a thunderbolt through the system!

Def.

Yes, this one's been discussed a number of times. It is an interesting show. I think it is fairly clear with hindsight of the intentions of the show (and Speight's other work, such as Till Death Us Do Part) were intended to highlight and 'expose' those kinds of attitudes, but you're right that a contemporary audience would have been less likely to see it that way. But then that's always an inherent problem with shows which attempt to 'deal with' those kinds of sensitive subjects. The people who need to learn the lessons the shows are trying to convey are the ones who're least likely to see those lessons - even when spelled out to them, much of the time.

Sounds like a bad cop show.

Sergent Chipz and Edward Curry take out crime!

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