A classic show, I agree. It was just the first two seasons in black-and-white, but you may have noticed a few black-and-white ones from the 4th season (I think), which for some reason were made that way due to strike action at LWT. Don't think any have been colourised as they would look different compared to the actual colour ones.
An episode of Dad's Army from '69 and the pilot of Are You Being Served? from '72 are examples of the BBC saving money by wiping the original colour tapes after copying them to B&W film (why not colour film at least, BBC you tight @rses?!!), but recent technology convincingly returned them to colour as the B&W film left a code of dots (on zooming in on it) which gives the software the ability to work out the colour and shade of objects in each frame. It looks very impressive, but still a bit different to the preserved tape versions.
I was also born in '72, and didn't see this show or films until the early 80s.
Love Thy Neighbour seems to cause a big divide for obvious reasons, a different 'colour' issue if you like, but I don't think most of the anti-Love Thy Neighbour crowd have seen a full episode, they just hear of the show's basic synopsis or see a scathingly one-sided review on a comedy documentary, and get a conclusion out of that. I think it had some funny episodes, but having said all this, I agree it's too un-PC for broadcast on today's terrestrial TV.
Most sitcoms from that era have race-related comments or reactions which wouldn't be acceptable in a modern show. Because they are mild or intentionally friendly and don't happen often, most are deemed acceptable for broadcast, e.g. On The Buses, Rising Damp, Fawlty Towers, etc. The unacceptable examples can only be found on DVD for those who want them, like Love Thy Neighbour, Mind Your Language or In Sickness & In Health (Alf Garnett's 80s follow-up to 'Til Death Us Do Part). Also worth considering, if these comments are coming from an unbalanced/nasty/daft character, it's really them being mocked and made to look stupid, e.g. Basil Fawlty or Major Gowen in Fawlty Towers, Rigsby in Rising Damp, Alf Garnett, and of course, the narrow-minded Eddie in Love Thy Neighbour. The latter's neighbour gave as good as he got, as it happened.
"So this is the planet Houston"
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podwilliams
15 years ago
Please don't taint gems like Rising Damp, 'Til Death Us Do Part or In Sickness & In Health (which were anti-racist in their content) by associating them with unutterable s h i t e like On The Buses and Love Thy Neighbour. What's more, there's more to admire in a single page of any script from any episode of Rising Damp than there is in the entire output of the aforementioned skidmarks on TV history.
The lion and the calf shall lie down together, but the calf won't get much sleep.
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martinjames-muzo
15 years ago
I don't think any sitcom would've been commissioned if they were pro-racism. I assume you simply don't find On The Buses or Love Thy Neighbour funny, as the ones you like contain plenty of un-PC content anyway. Fair play to you, but I like all of these myself, though my favourites are Rising Damp and Fawlty Towers. Yes- Rising Damp is a shining example way above most, no recent sitcom especially is worth the price of one Rigsby's cardigan buttons.
"So this is the planet Houston"
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