Till Death Us Do Part Christmas 1966 Pt4

This highly controversial BBC sitcom started in 1965, with Peter Sellers reluctantly turning down role, due to a busy schedule, and handing the reigns to Warren Mitchell. The right wing loud mouthed bigot Alf lived with his wife, Else, (who wore the trousers), his daughter Rita and her husband Mike (an unemployed Liverpudlian with left wing views). Alf criticised the government, the church, Mike, and just about everybody jammed the BBC switchboard with a complaint or two, but the audience figures were huge and so he stayed where he was. Alf transferred to ITV and back, then to ITV for a final outing, collecting two feature films en route. The writer's view was that we were to laught AT Alf Garnett, but like all monstrous sitcom characters, people loved him as well. Often unrepeatable now, due to the un-PC nature of the character. This episode was transmitted on 26/12/66.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Till
• Death
• Us
• Do
• Part
• Christmas
• 1966
• Alf
• Garnett
• Rita
• Mike
• Else
• Warren
• Mitchell
• Dancy
• Nicholls
• Una
• Stubbs
• Anthony
• Booth

[gealaltr]

Thanks for this one I really enjoyed watching it

[bluejeckett]

Alot of peeople are down on the BBC for wiping this stuff but youve got to remember a as has been pointed out the videotape was extremely expensive, b that nobody could predict the longevity of TV and the invention of DVDs and youtube still playing these things 50 years later, when they didnt even have PCs in 1966 and c that alot of these programs were considered lightweight and forgettable in the day, and add to this that this program in particular was derided for being offensive, answer, wipe

[49jubilee]

is this where America got "All in the Family" ?

[edwards21416]

he looks like himler

[AidanLunn]

In addiition to my last comment, i think that Monty Python was saved from the scrapheap because the Python team bought the copyright to tthe series. But as that said, the whole team was consulted before buying it. I don't think Dudley Moore was consulted, or maybe Equity had different rules.

The only part the BBC can take in this is still not having the foresight to think that those programmes would be considered national treasures in years to come (well you try predicting the future!)

[AidanLunn]

@kenfig Well it's not a stupid policy considering the price of it bback then. the shortest length of tape you could get was 1 and a half hours in length and obviously that was the one most used as most programmes were under 1 and a half hours. Each tape cost the equivalent of around £1000 in today's money. Not surprising the BBC wiped them and wouldn't let anyone else have them. Also, didn't Equity say "no" to Peter Cook buying them because Dudley Moore wasn't consulted?

[kenfig]

@AidanLunn Completely stupid policy ; Peter Cook attempted to BUY 'Not Only But Also' , his own show, to prevent it from being wiped but the BBC said no ; he then said he would PAY for video tape so they could store it or pay for the eqivalent amount of new tape for them to prevent it being wiped ; again no ; pathetic

[AidanLunn]

@kenfig It's not contradictory. The BBC were ordered to wipe the VT, but film copies of the VT were made to be sold abroad before the VT was wiped. Many were sold abroad and later returned to the BBC. others survives as negatives at what we now call BBC Worldwide and somehow made their way into the BBC Film library.

I actually meant a programme could not be repeated more than three years after its transmission, and even then it was limited to one repeat. Then what could the BBC do with the VT?

[kenfig]

@AidanLunn Well thats a contradiction as not only some of these have not been wiped, other shows haven't either ; i suspect that again,there were a fair share of arbitrary decisions made by powerful people depending on their personal preferences as well ! ; furthermore, in my book it should have applied to ANY thing across the board just the same, like the sychophantic preservation of Royal Family documentaries etc. being disregarded for a start

[AidanLunn]

@kenfig The BBC didn't have much choice in the matter. Videotape was expensive and Equity sitpulated that a videotape of a programme had to be wiped after t hree years.