The Curse Of Steptoe
- TV comedy drama
- BBC Four
- 2008
- 1 episode
Controversial biopic charting the complex relationship between Harry H Corbett and Wilfrid Brambell. Stars Jason Isaacs and Phil Davis. Also features Roger Allam, Zoe Tapper, Burn Gorman, Rory Kinnear, Clare Higgins and more.
Press clippings
BBC withdraw Steptoe & Son documentary after complaints
The BBC has had to withdraw DVDs of a programme about Steptoe and Son star Harry H. Corbett after complaints about its portrayal of his second wife.
The Telegraph, 22nd December 2010Corbett and Brambell worked together like a couple of knives sharpening each other. Jason Isaacs and Phil Davis, particularly Phil Davis (so natty, neat and tippy-toes, so cut glass, behatted and buttoned up), were striking, like Walter Matthau and George Burns in The Odd Couple, that classically incompatible double act. In every double act, fate stands in the wings with a sledgehammer.
Nancy Banks-Smith, The Guardian, 20th March 2008The Curse of Steptoe is the first in BBC4's The Curse of Comedy season. And I've just finished watching it on preview disc. It's wonderful - Jason Isaacs (Harry H Corbett) and Phil Davis (Wilfrid Brambell) nail their roles. [...] The film documents the actors' frosty relationship, with both each other, and the show that simultaneously made and ruined them. It's beautifully shot, cleverly written ("The father's just a feed, really", Corbett tells his wife) and - well - just loads better than the BBC recent trails make it appear.
Graham Kibble-White, Off The Telly, 6th March 2008