Secrets And Scandals of Steptoe and Son "Steptoe and Son: Secrets & Scandals" unveils surprising revelations, including a Labour leader requesting a major favor from the BBC, a Metropolitan Police vice squad targeting celebrities, and a descent into alcoholism that nearly shattered Britain’s most beloved sitcom. This eye-opening documentary delves into the significance of the show and the hidden truths behind its production. "Steptoe and Son" was the most significant, gritty, and foul-mouthed sitcom of its era. Yet, behind the humor, catchphrases, and pickled onions lies a vastly different narrative. The documentary features insights from actor and comedian John Thomson (who played Harold Steptoe in a radio adaptation), renowned agent Tessa Le Bars (widow of Steptoe co-creator Alan Simpson), actor Madeline Smith (the only former Bond girl to appear in Steptoe), and TV historians Dick Fiddy and Graham McCann. It reveals an extraordinary tale of political maneuvering involving the BBC and the influence of "Steptoe and Son." With remarkable first-hand accounts, the documentary discloses a political intervention that potentially secured Labour a general election victory by rescheduling a Steptoe broadcast. Additionally, it uncovers the startling truth about co-star Wilfrid Brambell's arrest for 'importuning persistently for immoral purposes,' detailing the actions of both Brambell and the vice squad leading to his arrest, and the BBC’s extraordinary response to one of its biggest stars being caught in a men's toilet. Other revelations include a profanity-filled outburst that caused a diplomatic incident during a foreign tour, and how the show transformed Britain’s attitudes towards swearing. Trending Hashtags: #SteptoeAndSon #TVDocumentary #BritishSitcoms #ScandalsRevealed #PoliticalIntrigue #BBCSecrets #WilfridBrambell #BehindTheScenes #TVHistory #comedylegends First Shown on C5 More Info About Steptoe & Son: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steptoe_and_Son
"Other revelations include a profanity-filled outburst that caused a diplomatic incident during a foreign tour" Biographers of both Wilfrid Brambell and Harry H Corbett have searched high and low for evidence to support this allegation. No footage is in existence and nobody in the NZ media could recall it happening. Biographers of both men strongly suspect that the story is a lie, made up by the Australian tour promoter. A bit disappointing therefore that the documentary repeats this story when there's a reasonable chance it isn't true.
I was too young, being born in 1970, to watch the original runs, but when I saw some of the repeats as a teenager in the 80's, I fell in love with the show. It takes quite a bit to make me do more than just chuckle at a comedy show, but had several uncontrollable fits of laughter watching Steptoe. Definitely up to the quality of something like Only Fools and Horses, where a mix of comedy and sadness, worked so well.
I love listening to wilfrid brambell. I would have loved to hear what he would say about that harold wilson/election incident. I read somewhere he was an intelligent, well read and sometimes opinionated person. So much rubbish written about him😡
Doesn't mention the scandal of Wilfrid Brambell was accused of abusing two boys aged 12-13 during the 1970s in Jersey. One of the boys was from the Haut de la Garenne children's home.
Steptoe and Son along with 'Only fools and Horses and Blackadder represent all that is incredibly amazing in British humour, how you can be laughing at the characters and crying with them in the next scene where it suddenly becomes serious. A good example would be the Episode 'Full house' where Harold's answer to Albert's claim that when he was young, Harold had never went without food, which was "Well I never got Ricketts from overeating, did I" The first episode where it got really sad when Harold could'nt get the cart to move while Albert looked on with a genuine look of sadness that only a loving father could show, wonderful acting.
Wilfrid Bramble was very brave and strong of character to go ahead with recording the first show of the second series, and on the same day he was found 'guilty' of 'smiling' in a public facility. He showed the country just how pathetic the legal and societal establishment really was. In hindsight what right did anyone have to tell private individuals what they could and could not do consensually with each other. The police officers who set up the sting should themselves have been prosecuted and jailed for harassment. How stupid people were back then to put up with this nonsense. It should never have been anyone's business who did what with whom!
This is the best English sitcom of all time, never mind OFAH. John Sullivan stole so much from Galton and Simpson for OFAH its untrue. Without Steptoe, Del-boy would never have been created and as for Del's 24 million viewers, Steptoe grabbed 28 million regularly so pick the bones out of that!
Without Arthur Daley and his coat, mannerisms, wrongly worded sayings, never paying his tab at the bar and wheeling and dealing. Delboy wouldn't have existed, they took Arthur Daley put him in a council flat, gave him a dopey brother instead of a downtrodden bodyguard. And that's that
How cheap using steptoish music to avoid paying for the right to use the real tune. Mr Fordyce kindly let me know that the fake music is only in the intro. I'm rewatching ....25 mins in and it's so interesting. Thoroughly enjoying this video. Thank you for posting.
@@alanfordyce Hello I enjoyed the one on the Good Life. If the music is only playing in the intro, I'll give it another go. I'm curious but got irritated by the fake music and stopped watching.
An ex-partner installed an intruder alarm in Harry H Corbett's home back in the late 1970s. He said Mr Corbett spoke with a very affected accent in company but privately like Harrold Steptoe. His wife apparently was lovely but Mr Corbett didnt have much time for an alarm engineer!
Steptoe and Son was a seminal series, setting a new high point for British comedy drama. The intense pathos from these two bodies in a fateful orbit, where on one hand they supported each other, but could not let each other go, was reality writ large. The personal tragedies of these superb actors followed similar orbital tensions. Sadly, the decades following these beautifully observed human follies, descended into what was described as comedy, but without feeling, even without mirth. I despise and deplore what passes for British comedy these days, half a century later.
It wasn't 'interference' in an election, encouraging and making voting easier is perfectly ok. We used to taxi voters to the polls, no one told them how to vote. Enabling people to vote is a public duty. I recall one woman telling me as she arrived at the polls, 'I'm voting for the other side', I just laughed and asked how she was getting home... (Yes, I took her home)
You are the one that needs to do some research. The Sun newspaper was launched in September 1964. Rupert Murdoch bought it in 1969, which is what you are getting confused with.
@@jonathanstempleton7864 charles hawtrey and kenneth williams did. Pity cant find the whole show. Carry on police or something like that. One scene had them both dress up as very convincing old but smart ladies as underrcover cops in a department store. V funny.
@@jonathanstempleton7864 the only thing i have seen Brambell in drag was the steptoe episode’Live now Pay later’ where he dresses up as his wife hes been claiming tax deductions for: illegally. I like that part where harold says’. What wife?’ Then ‘shes been dead for 33 yrs!’
IN AN EPISODE CALLED A STAR IS BORN, ALBERT REFERRED TO THAT ALL ACTORS WERE POOFS WHEN IN REAL LIFE HE WAS A RUM DUFF HIMSELF BUT THIS SITCOM ANND THE MOVIES ARE AN ABSOLUTE GEM
@@chriswaring5565 we can imagine how he felt living in those times. And the wicked vice people who just pick in gays esp if they are doing so much better!😡
The labour party love the Royal family, Authority, hierarchy and having an unelected head of state. Plus the bbc being their mouthpiece. So unless they get rid of the Royal family, house of Lords " more unelected people in charge" and the bbc. None of which they plan on doing, then they are the same Anti working class as the Tories are. People forget they're all educated in the same elite establishments in the same manner, their children all go to the same private schools and mostly all live in upmarket areas of the country
Hmmm interesting. So a gay man goes into a gents toilet just to ''smile at men''. What about going into the toilet to actually relieve yourself. As a straight man i have never gone into a gents toilet to ''smile at men''. NEVER. Something doesn't seem right here. I'm very suspicious of Brambles intentions. BTW. I love Wilfred Bramble as a character actor. He was brilliant.
Exactly , it's never been acceptable, my father took my 8 year old brother into a public toilet many years ago, to find 2 naked men up against the wall. Long story but they were rightly arrested, can't go into a public convience as an adult and start having sex when small children may be using it.
Now liebor rely on the newcomers vote and their not working class, in fact most dont work at all. "WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES"......tra la la (oh i meant what a difference 1/2 century makes.
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Secrets And Scandals of Steptoe and Son
"Steptoe and Son: Secrets & Scandals" unveils surprising revelations, including a Labour leader requesting a major favor from the BBC, a Metropolitan Police vice squad targeting celebrities, and a descent into alcoholism that nearly shattered Britain’s most beloved sitcom. This eye-opening documentary delves into the significance of the show and the hidden truths behind its production.
"Steptoe and Son" was the most significant, gritty, and foul-mouthed sitcom of its era. Yet, behind the humor, catchphrases, and pickled onions lies a vastly different narrative.
The documentary features insights from actor and comedian John Thomson (who played Harold Steptoe in a radio adaptation), renowned agent Tessa Le Bars (widow of Steptoe co-creator Alan Simpson), actor Madeline Smith (the only former Bond girl to appear in Steptoe), and TV historians Dick Fiddy and Graham McCann.
It reveals an extraordinary tale of political maneuvering involving the BBC and the influence of "Steptoe and Son." With remarkable first-hand accounts, the documentary discloses a political intervention that potentially secured Labour a general election victory by rescheduling a Steptoe broadcast.
Additionally, it uncovers the startling truth about co-star Wilfrid Brambell's arrest for 'importuning persistently for immoral purposes,' detailing the actions of both Brambell and the vice squad leading to his arrest, and the BBC’s extraordinary response to one of its biggest stars being caught in a men's toilet.
Other revelations include a profanity-filled outburst that caused a diplomatic incident during a foreign tour, and how the show transformed Britain’s attitudes towards swearing.
Trending Hashtags: #SteptoeAndSon #TVDocumentary #BritishSitcoms #ScandalsRevealed #PoliticalIntrigue #BBCSecrets #WilfridBrambell #BehindTheScenes #TVHistory #comedylegends
First Shown on C5
More Info About Steptoe & Son:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steptoe_and_Son
@@alanfordyce the metropolitan police vice squad was evil. Targeting the most famous and well off fr their own gain !
"Other revelations include a profanity-filled outburst that caused a diplomatic incident during a foreign tour"
Biographers of both Wilfrid Brambell and Harry H Corbett have searched high and low for evidence to support this allegation. No footage is in existence and nobody in the NZ media could recall it happening. Biographers of both men strongly suspect that the story is a lie, made up by the Australian tour promoter. A bit disappointing therefore that the documentary repeats this story when there's a reasonable chance it isn't true.
Brilliant actors I can watch the same episodes over and over still laugh out loud
The happiness that the two actors brought to people is priceless
I was too young, being born in 1970, to watch the original runs, but when I saw some of the repeats as a teenager in the 80's, I fell in love with the show. It takes quite a bit to make me do more than just chuckle at a comedy show, but had several uncontrollable fits of laughter watching Steptoe. Definitely up to the quality of something like Only Fools and Horses, where a mix of comedy and sadness, worked so well.
Steptoe & Son, On the Buses, and The Rag Trade are three of my favorite British "labor" sitcoms.
Everybody out!
Wonderful documentary, thank you so much ❤
In my top 10 of British comedy shows for sure. This one is a real treasure.
Favourite episode was ‘Man of Letters’ 1972, the game of scrabble with the vicar, genius!
Mine is when they partition the house so they have their own areas.
Fantastic. Thank you this documentary
Glad you enjoyed it!
I have just watched the Only fools and horses one last night and enjoyed too
I'm going to watch the good life next
Love these!
Glad you like them!
There are some similar subject matter fr both shows. I love both
It was brilliant and we wasn’t so sensitive about things back then and we seen comedy as harmless fun
I love listening to wilfrid brambell. I would have loved to hear what he would say about that harold wilson/election incident. I read somewhere he was an intelligent, well read and sometimes opinionated person. So much rubbish written about him😡
Doesn't mention the scandal of Wilfrid Brambell was accused of abusing two boys aged 12-13 during the 1970s in Jersey. One of the boys was from the Haut de la Garenne children's home.
Please tell me more and how you found this out Please
Steptoe and Son along with 'Only fools and Horses and Blackadder represent all that is incredibly amazing in British humour, how you can be laughing at the characters and crying with them in the next scene where it suddenly becomes serious. A good example would be the Episode 'Full house' where Harold's answer to Albert's claim that when he was young, Harold had never went without food, which was "Well I never got Ricketts from overeating, did I" The first episode where it got really sad when Harold could'nt get the cart to move while Albert looked on with a genuine look of sadness that only a loving father could show, wonderful acting.
Wilfrid Bramble was very brave and strong of character to go ahead with recording the first show of the second series, and on the same day he was found 'guilty' of 'smiling' in a public facility. He showed the country just how pathetic the legal and societal establishment really was. In hindsight what right did anyone have to tell private individuals what they could and could not do consensually with each other. The police officers who set up the sting should themselves have been prosecuted and jailed for harassment. How stupid people were back then to put up with this nonsense. It should never have been anyone's business who did what with whom!
Haven't seen maddie smith for years,vampires springs to mind
And ‘the amazing mr blunden’. I’m trying to think what else she was in. The boys in my class were crazy about her!
So that's where George Michel got the public toilet idea from
Tb or not Tb is a classic episode.
This is the best English sitcom of all time, never mind OFAH. John Sullivan stole so much from Galton and Simpson for OFAH its untrue.
Without Steptoe, Del-boy would never have been created and as for Del's 24 million viewers, Steptoe grabbed 28 million regularly so pick the bones out of that!
Please elaborate on your comment , how did john o Sullivan steal from galton and Simpson ??
it's not a pissing match
Without Arthur Daley and his coat, mannerisms, wrongly worded sayings, never paying his tab at the bar and wheeling and dealing.
Delboy wouldn't have existed, they took Arthur Daley put him in a council flat, gave him a dopey brother instead of a downtrodden bodyguard.
And that's that
How cheap using steptoish music to avoid paying for the right to use the real tune. Mr Fordyce kindly let me know that the fake music is only in the intro. I'm rewatching ....25 mins in and it's so interesting. Thoroughly enjoying this video. Thank you for posting.
sorry you didn't enjoy the intro music, did you enjoy the rest of the video?
@@alanfordyce Hello I enjoyed the one on the Good Life. If the music is only playing in the intro, I'll give it another go. I'm curious but got irritated by the fake music and stopped watching.
settle down
An ex-partner installed an intruder alarm in Harry H Corbett's home back in the late 1970s. He said Mr Corbett spoke with a very affected accent in company but privately like Harrold Steptoe. His wife apparently was lovely but Mr Corbett didnt have much time for an alarm engineer!
Steptoe and Son was a seminal series, setting a new high point for British comedy drama. The intense pathos from these two bodies in a fateful orbit, where on one hand they supported each other, but could not let each other go, was reality writ large. The personal tragedies of these superb actors followed similar orbital tensions. Sadly, the decades following these beautifully observed human follies, descended into what was described as comedy, but without feeling, even without mirth. I despise and deplore what passes for British comedy these days, half a century later.
Meh..
He's very clean
They could not secure the rights to 'Old Ned' by Ron Grainer?
Things haven't changed much then?
Good to see the lovely Maddie Smith here. 14:31
It wasn't 'interference' in an election, encouraging and making voting easier is perfectly ok. We used to taxi voters to the polls, no one told them how to vote. Enabling people to vote is a public duty. I recall one woman telling me as she arrived at the polls, 'I'm voting for the other side', I just laughed and asked how she was getting home... (Yes, I took her home)
great story
1.30 Incorrect information. Narrator says we were reading sun newspaper in 1964. It was not around until 1969.
You are the one that needs to do some research. The Sun newspaper was launched in September 1964. Rupert Murdoch bought it in 1969, which is what you are getting confused with.
Maybe Brambell and Charles Hawtrey should have done a show together. They sound like they had a lot in common.
@@jonathanstempleton7864 charles hawtrey and kenneth williams did. Pity cant find the whole show. Carry on police or something like that. One scene had them both dress up as very convincing old but smart ladies as underrcover cops in a department store. V funny.
@@jonathanstempleton7864 the only thing i have seen Brambell in drag was the steptoe episode’Live now Pay later’ where he dresses up as his wife hes been claiming tax deductions for: illegally. I like that part where harold says’. What wife?’ Then ‘shes been dead for 33 yrs!’
@@jonathanstempleton7864 would have been good!
@@jessiejames7492 Carry On Constable
Claiming Brambell as some sort of trailblazing lgbt hero hasn’t aged well
why
@@ozorna9401There are rumours about WB that are quite unsavoury. Can’t say more coz YT will wipe.
It’s hard to believe that Wilfred Brambell was only 50 when he played steptoe he was just 13 years older the his supposed sun funny eh?
IN AN EPISODE CALLED A STAR IS BORN, ALBERT REFERRED TO THAT ALL ACTORS WERE POOFS WHEN IN REAL LIFE HE WAS A RUM DUFF HIMSELF BUT THIS SITCOM ANND THE MOVIES ARE AN ABSOLUTE GEM
Use your inside voice
@@chriswaring5565 we can imagine how he felt living in those times. And the wicked vice people who just pick in gays esp if they are doing so much better!😡
Even then the biased broadcasting corporation were helping out the Labour party
utter bollox.....known for being ultra tory....
The labour party love the Royal family, Authority, hierarchy and having an unelected head of state.
Plus the bbc being their mouthpiece.
So unless they get rid of the Royal family, house of Lords " more unelected people in charge" and the bbc.
None of which they plan on doing, then they are the same Anti working class as the Tories are.
People forget they're all educated in the same elite establishments in the same manner, their children all go to the same private schools and mostly all live in upmarket areas of the country
Shame most of it's not true.
Are you aware of more secrets and scandals @speedy692 , please do drop them in the comments and I'll make secret and scandals video 2 once verified.
Hmmm interesting. So a gay man goes into a gents toilet just to ''smile at men''. What about going into the toilet to actually relieve yourself. As a straight man i have never gone into a gents toilet to ''smile at men''. NEVER. Something doesn't seem right here. I'm very suspicious of Brambles intentions. BTW. I love Wilfred Bramble as a character actor. He was brilliant.
I think generally men avoid eye contact altogether in public toilets!
Gay, straight or indifferent.. having sex in a public toilet is wrong.
Exactly , it's never been acceptable, my father took my 8 year old brother into a public toilet many years ago, to find 2 naked men up against the wall.
Long story but they were rightly arrested, can't go into a public convience as an adult and start having sex when small children may be using it.
Yes it is but he was entrapped I think. That’s wrong too!
@@Roz-y2d Not really, without 'entrapment' there would be a lot more bad people walking the streets. It must be used, but wisely.
Now liebor rely on the newcomers vote and their not working class, in fact most dont work at all. "WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES"......tra la la (oh i meant what a difference 1/2 century makes.
🛎️ End alert again.
You need how to learn to spell.
Sorry, folks, but I did not like this show or the actors. Rubbish!!!
16:50 - when this episode gets repeated on Thats TV, they simply bleep out the homophobic language along with the racist language.