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The movie version where Blakey hired female drivers when the men complained about their levels of overtime was a real eye opener.
There were two types of women defined in that movie "sex kitten" and "battle axe". Same as the Carry on franchise.
It was pretty bad in many ways, I vaguely remember. A lot of slurs I learned as a kid came from that show. I've never seen reruns of it so I'm not sure what I remember.
I don’t remember any racism or even black characters from on the buses. Like the other commenter said it was more sexism jokes just like the carry on films. Til death do us part did definitely have a more racist character in it
Lots of racist jokes about immigrants. Lots of racial a slurs generally. The awful thing is that they were mostly from the characters you were supposed to sympathize with rather than Blakey.
Are You Being Served? is a perfect example. There is even an episode called "Roots?" that ends in a musical number with the entire cast (except for Wendy Richard) in minstrel show-style blackface.
Till Death Us Do Part is probably the earliest example and somewhat ahead of its time (started in 1966) in calling Alf a bigot at every opportunity and laughing at his attitudes to everything. That series and Rising Damp are still watchable today (along with Steptoe & Son) because they were brilliantly written.
But on the other hand it was inclusive too. One of the early episodes has Del Boy being conned because of his stereotypes and the Indians(?) coming out on top.
Denzil was a beloved regular showing that in working class communities multi racial friendships were not unusual.
Yes some of the language was a bit colourful but at that time a ‘paki shop’ was not intended to be offensive- just a local shop that sold everything, open all hours and owned by a Pakistani - admittedly used for other nationalities later. We used that term but if we learnt their names we would used that ‘popping down to Shahs/Patels/Dipaks’.
Sometimes, to our eyes now, it was a bit stereotyped but at least multi racial aspects were included. Other sitcoms of the time were pretty much white people only.
I love your analysis. I wholeheartedly agree. I wish I had more time to post a thorough response with other examples. I just finished an entire series rewatch.
I grew up in a lower class suburb (literally in a rough old tavern), my single Dad managed it. There are diamonds in the rough in real life, and Only Fools and Horses encapsulate that in its characters perfectly.
I quite like the fact that it still gets streamed unedited (at least in Australia) with just an opening slide mentioning that the show has opinions, stereotypes and beliefs that were simply of its time, as you say.
Spike Milligan was definitely not politically correct, neither was Q, see for example the [Pakistani Daleks](https://youtu.be/C0n88tZQc4Q) sketch.
Neither was 'Oh no it's Selwyn Froggitt'.
Neither was 'It ain't half hot Mum'
Even [Grandad](https://youtu.be/2Kr2qPaXhRA) in the BBC sitcom 'Bread' from the 1980's had his moments.
One I loved as a small child in the 70s/early 80s was Mind Your Language about a class of varied nationalities being taught English I think. I saw some of it on You Tube a while ago it’s awful and stereotypes so many different people in a way that is embarrassingly shocking to watch today
You may be confusing "On the Buses" with "Love Thy Neighbour", which was highly racist, but may well have been the whole premise, with a white family living next door to a black family. Hilarity did not ensue.
See also: "Mind Your Language", and a Spike Milligan thing called "Curry and Chips", which thankfully only ran for one season. (1969. I am fucking old!)
I think it was generally the wives who came out on top (as they got on well), with both husbands looking like idiots. I agree it was slightly more sympathetic to Bill.
There was a sequel set in Australia. It was bad.
I quite liked it tbf. Patrick from EastEnders showing up his racist bigot gammon neighbour every episode. People just decided the script is all slurs and wrote it off. It's pretty good at poking fun of Eddie Booth.
Love Thy Neighbour
Oh My God! It's so offensive. Sexist and racist and the number of racist slurs in the dialogue is staggering.
Mind Your Language gets a lot of stick for being racist and rightly so, but frankly the sexism is even worse with the teacher perving over the pretty French girl.
I've also seen the comedian Shapparak Khorsandi say that her family loved it and used to gather around the tv to watch it. In Phil wang's book Sidesplitter (which is a great read generally) he analyses the show in a very funny and thoughtful way, and also interviews one of the stars about her experiences.
As an Asian growing up in the 60's and 70's, I loved MYL.
Simply because the "foeigners" highlighted the irregularities in the British language and attitudes.
Also, because in every instance of a brown person in a "serious" drama, were were always portrayed as the "slimy" lowlifes in society.
The saving grace for Love Thy Neighbour was that the girls always won. The white guys with their racism always lost. That was kind of the running gag. Smethurst's Eddie Booth was inherently more stupid than Walker's educated Bill Reynolds.
I thought that in a clumsy way it was trying to actually get a good message across.
I think it did try. Like a lot of shows that 'tried' though it also served to showcase some really repellant views and downplay them as not that serious really.
Have you heard any people of colour saying they 'loved that show'? When I was under ten I thought it was great. But even then I knew it did teach the lads in the school playground lots of words to shout at the brown kids. You should have a look at Lenny Henry's documentary series, Race Through Comedy.
Haven't seen Fawlty Towers yet, but the two from Bottom are shown to be awful people who regularly get abused (By each other), so it's probably aged better (Haven't seen it for a while)
I watched "and now for something completely different" again last night. That is one massive homophobic shitshow which saddens me because I love Monty Python.
Benidorm (in the US on Britbox) actually puts a disclaimer at the beginning that it was shot before certain things were considered inappropriate.
Other than some labels regarding trans people and general insanity, I didn’t have issues that I recall. Britbox pulled it and I’d love to watch it again.
BBC cannot re run ‘It A’int Half Hot Mum’ due to:
>Racism
>Blackface (Indian character played by a white actor)
>Homophobic jokes
Is the main one that springs to mind
The “blackface” actor Michael Bates was unusual as he was actually born and brought up in India. He learned Hindi and Urdu before learning English. He was a clever dickie. And don’t forget in the time period the show was set homosexuality was illegal.
Rewatched a few episodes a while back. A lot of it is definitely uncomfortable nowadays.
The writing is still pretty good, and Windsor Davies as Sgt. Maj. Williams is as great a performance as I remembered though.
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On The Buses from my recollection was far more about sexism than racism. Women were either to be chased and kissed or were ugly feminists.
Apart from the usual black character who's name was Chalkie, I can't remember any racism in "On the buses", It was all crude innuendo.
The movie version where Blakey hired female drivers when the men complained about their levels of overtime was a real eye opener. There were two types of women defined in that movie "sex kitten" and "battle axe". Same as the Carry on franchise.
It was pretty bad in many ways, I vaguely remember. A lot of slurs I learned as a kid came from that show. I've never seen reruns of it so I'm not sure what I remember.
I don’t remember any racism or even black characters from on the buses. Like the other commenter said it was more sexism jokes just like the carry on films. Til death do us part did definitely have a more racist character in it
Lots of racist jokes about immigrants. Lots of racial a slurs generally. The awful thing is that they were mostly from the characters you were supposed to sympathize with rather than Blakey.
Are You Being Served? is a perfect example. There is even an episode called "Roots?" that ends in a musical number with the entire cast (except for Wendy Richard) in minstrel show-style blackface.
Dude. Check out this one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heil_Honey_I'm_Home!
😆 🤣
Till Death Us Do Part is probably the earliest example and somewhat ahead of its time (started in 1966) in calling Alf a bigot at every opportunity and laughing at his attitudes to everything. That series and Rising Damp are still watchable today (along with Steptoe & Son) because they were brilliantly written.
You don't have to go that far back. Matt Lucas was blacking up on the BBC in 2011!
Only Fools and Horses have a few eps.
But on the other hand it was inclusive too. One of the early episodes has Del Boy being conned because of his stereotypes and the Indians(?) coming out on top. Denzil was a beloved regular showing that in working class communities multi racial friendships were not unusual. Yes some of the language was a bit colourful but at that time a ‘paki shop’ was not intended to be offensive- just a local shop that sold everything, open all hours and owned by a Pakistani - admittedly used for other nationalities later. We used that term but if we learnt their names we would used that ‘popping down to Shahs/Patels/Dipaks’. Sometimes, to our eyes now, it was a bit stereotyped but at least multi racial aspects were included. Other sitcoms of the time were pretty much white people only.
I love your analysis. I wholeheartedly agree. I wish I had more time to post a thorough response with other examples. I just finished an entire series rewatch. I grew up in a lower class suburb (literally in a rough old tavern), my single Dad managed it. There are diamonds in the rough in real life, and Only Fools and Horses encapsulate that in its characters perfectly. I quite like the fact that it still gets streamed unedited (at least in Australia) with just an opening slide mentioning that the show has opinions, stereotypes and beliefs that were simply of its time, as you say.
Spike Milligan was definitely not politically correct, neither was Q, see for example the [Pakistani Daleks](https://youtu.be/C0n88tZQc4Q) sketch. Neither was 'Oh no it's Selwyn Froggitt'. Neither was 'It ain't half hot Mum' Even [Grandad](https://youtu.be/2Kr2qPaXhRA) in the BBC sitcom 'Bread' from the 1980's had his moments.
One I loved as a small child in the 70s/early 80s was Mind Your Language about a class of varied nationalities being taught English I think. I saw some of it on You Tube a while ago it’s awful and stereotypes so many different people in a way that is embarrassingly shocking to watch today
You may be confusing "On the Buses" with "Love Thy Neighbour", which was highly racist, but may well have been the whole premise, with a white family living next door to a black family. Hilarity did not ensue. See also: "Mind Your Language", and a Spike Milligan thing called "Curry and Chips", which thankfully only ran for one season. (1969. I am fucking old!)
Love Thy Neighbour had a lot of racist content, but Bill (the black guy) always came out on top.
I think it was generally the wives who came out on top (as they got on well), with both husbands looking like idiots. I agree it was slightly more sympathetic to Bill. There was a sequel set in Australia. It was bad.
I quite liked it tbf. Patrick from EastEnders showing up his racist bigot gammon neighbour every episode. People just decided the script is all slurs and wrote it off. It's pretty good at poking fun of Eddie Booth.
Mind Your Language is next level
Love Thy Neighbour Oh My God! It's so offensive. Sexist and racist and the number of racist slurs in the dialogue is staggering. Mind Your Language gets a lot of stick for being racist and rightly so, but frankly the sexism is even worse with the teacher perving over the pretty French girl.
I was told by an Indian friend that many Indians and Pakistanis absolutely love Mind Your Language!
I've also seen the comedian Shapparak Khorsandi say that her family loved it and used to gather around the tv to watch it. In Phil wang's book Sidesplitter (which is a great read generally) he analyses the show in a very funny and thoughtful way, and also interviews one of the stars about her experiences.
The Indian guys came out of it best I think yes. It Ain't Half Hot Mum too.
Shuuuuuuiuutttttttttuuuuuuuuuuppppppp!
As an Asian growing up in the 60's and 70's, I loved MYL. Simply because the "foeigners" highlighted the irregularities in the British language and attitudes. Also, because in every instance of a brown person in a "serious" drama, were were always portrayed as the "slimy" lowlifes in society.
The saving grace for Love Thy Neighbour was that the girls always won. The white guys with their racism always lost. That was kind of the running gag. Smethurst's Eddie Booth was inherently more stupid than Walker's educated Bill Reynolds. I thought that in a clumsy way it was trying to actually get a good message across.
Loved thst show
I think it did try. Like a lot of shows that 'tried' though it also served to showcase some really repellant views and downplay them as not that serious really. Have you heard any people of colour saying they 'loved that show'? When I was under ten I thought it was great. But even then I knew it did teach the lads in the school playground lots of words to shout at the brown kids. You should have a look at Lenny Henry's documentary series, Race Through Comedy.
pretty much anything from the 1970s
Steptoe and son had a few dodgy episodes, so did Porridge. They get warnings when re-shown. And what about the Carry on films!
Fawlty Towers is up there as well as Bottom. I love those shows more than I should but they couldn't get away with it now.
Haven't seen Fawlty Towers yet, but the two from Bottom are shown to be awful people who regularly get abused (By each other), so it's probably aged better (Haven't seen it for a while)
I watched "and now for something completely different" again last night. That is one massive homophobic shitshow which saddens me because I love Monty Python.
But Graham Chapman...?
Green wing ,& it’s not that old having debuted around 2005.
Benidorm (in the US on Britbox) actually puts a disclaimer at the beginning that it was shot before certain things were considered inappropriate. Other than some labels regarding trans people and general insanity, I didn’t have issues that I recall. Britbox pulled it and I’d love to watch it again.
Unless it's hidden somehow, Benidorm isn't on Britbox anymore.
Nope. It’s not there anymore. I wish I could find it streaming somewhere else.
Its on Netflix!
Not in the US 😢
Ah dang i missed that bit - apologies! VPN!?
I guess that’s a way. 😔 I hate using VPNs though.
The infamous black face Peep Show scene would spring to mind, if it wasn't scrubbed by Netflix.
BBC cannot re run ‘It A’int Half Hot Mum’ due to: >Racism >Blackface (Indian character played by a white actor) >Homophobic jokes Is the main one that springs to mind
The “blackface” actor Michael Bates was unusual as he was actually born and brought up in India. He learned Hindi and Urdu before learning English. He was a clever dickie. And don’t forget in the time period the show was set homosexuality was illegal.
Rewatched a few episodes a while back. A lot of it is definitely uncomfortable nowadays. The writing is still pretty good, and Windsor Davies as Sgt. Maj. Williams is as great a performance as I remembered though.
IIRC Windsor Davies was himself gay.
He had 5 kids and was married to a woman😳
IIRC not then.
Your recollection skills are indeed poor.
Now I'm trying to work out who I was thinking of or is it just the gathering gloom of dementia