DVD Review: Three Classic Charles Dickens BBC Productions

As a fan of British television, especially programs from the 1960s & 1970s, I have been keeping my eye on what Simply Media has been outputting especially over the last couple of years. I have seen programs such as Softly, Softly: Taskforce, Doomwatch, Hugh and I, and Dr. Finlay’s Casebook get a DVD release.  Pretty much all of the releases above, I would have never thought any of those would have received a release in a physical format. It’s great to be wrong about this sort of thing because Simply Media keeps putting out content that features some of the heyday of BBC production.

Monday, July 03 sees the release of the first set of Charles Dickens classics all produced by the BBC. Three separate titles have been released for the first time on DVD and it has been a treat to watch these: Our Mutual Friend (1958), Great Expectations (1967) & Dombey And Son (1969). I guess what I am really pleased about with this set of releases is that these programs were not released on a streaming services but that we are able to own the physical discs. These are really special productions.

I have never sought out anything Charles Dickens. I am not disinterested in his work at all and obviously I am well aware of A Christmas Carol. So I came to these with a very fresh perspective. I am not a big reader of Fiction. I generally turn my attention to the more factual when I do my reading. I tend to like my books as television adaptations. I am not sure if that makes me lazy or not. I am also a scholar (of sorts) of British television of the 1960s and 1970s. I am intrigued by how the programs were made, who produced them, who acted in them and how these programs were archived. I have no doubt in my mind that these are faithful adaptations of the programs.

Our Mutual Friend
2-DVD set  (Main Feature: 360 min)
Released by the Simply Media on July 3^rd, 2017. SRP £19.99 (DVD) 
Subtitles, 1.33:1, Mono Black & White

This is a Region 2 DVD only available from the UK and in the PAL format.

To me, this is one of the most exciting release for a couple of reasons. Our Mutual Friend is the oldest production of the three that have been released this month and I use trepidation when I say that because there is some viewers out there that equate old with “not good”. Let me tell you that is not the case.

There is a thought that a lot of the output if BBC television in the 1950s were just plays that were televised and that changes when the likes of “The Quatermass serials” were produced or perhaps of people like Rudolph Cartier helmed productions. The reason I bring this up is to verify something like Our Mutual Friend is anything but a play on television.

Taking up 12 parts and broadcasting into 1959, this serial is tremendously thorough with its story. It takes us to many locations and the characters are well fleshed out. The Dickens characters often feel like caricatures to me; they are slightly over the top but filled with life. Their intentions becoming very obvious normally from when we first meet them. A lot of times, someone learns a lesson.

I think what surprised me the most about this serial (apart from that it all exists) are some of the cast who is in it. First and foremost, I was surprised by David McCallum who plays Eugene Wrayburn. He seems like a much more contemporary actor than someone who appears in a production from the 1950s. Amongst us British television fans, I am sure McCallum is mostly remembered for playing Steel in Sapphire & Steel in the 1970s or Illya Kuryakin in The Man from U.N.C.L.E. but is now seen on NCIS. He is now 83 years old and apparently is still going strong.

Other names that leaped out at me was Rachel Gurney from Upstairs Downstairs and Wilfrid Brambell who played Mr. Dolls. Brambell is well known for his iconic role as Albert Steptoe in Steptoe and Son. What I have found interesting in how many of these programs he turns up in during the 1950s. Just of ones that I have seen apart from this one, he is in the 1954 adaptation of Nineteen Eighty-Four and also in Quatermass II. Also seen in this is Barbara Lott, Melvyn Hayes and William Mervyn who I have always enjoyed in such series as Mr. Rose and All Gas & Gaiters.

The overall production for Our Mutual Friend is sleek yet simple. Things like the opening credits are very simple yet engaging. I think it can be said for all of these productions, I am easily engaged with what is happening. As a live production it is not all studio bound as there is a great amount of pre-filmed sequences to not only keep the story moving but to allow a greater breathe of scope to the production. It has been fun to see how BBC production changes throughout a span of 10 years with these releases.

Great Expectations
2-DVD set  (Main Feature: 250 min)
Released by the Simply Media on July 3^rd, 2017. SRP £19.99 (DVD) 
Subtitles, 1.33:1, Mono Black & White

This is a Region 2 DVD only available from the UK and in the PAL format.

The story of the growth and development of Pip Pirrip adapted by Hugh Leonard. Produced in 1967, this to me, gives us a great example of how a series made in black & white really serves the production well rather than colour. This is a story that has some gritty moments. These are played out very well in this production. Just in the very beginning alone, Pip is accosted by escaped convict, Abel Magwitch. It is frightening and escape seems hopeless. Of course, there is Miss Havisham whose story is tragic on a number of different levels. In fact, being the softy that I am who doesn’t always like watching some of this grittiness, I came to this production with some trepidation. What I found was a production with innovation without being too slick. It’s still a BBC production of its time but there are a couple of things that really stood out for me.

Like I said, some of the grittiness and violence. Violence done to other people. The sets are gritty, even the ones that feature Miss Havisham. She is older and a wealthy spinster but time has stood still for her and everything around her has sort of died. Even the dress she wears shows that there once was a better life to it. In fact, the first scene to feature her is her just her speaking from the other side of the room with the camera slowly dollying up to her. It makes an impact right away that she is someone important. Then we meet her adopted daughter Estella played by the beautiful Francesca Annis. She is a cold young lady who can be extremely harsh as we see when her and the younger Pip meet for the first time. Speaking of gritty, the opening credits may be the most depressing and interesting that I have seen from the BBC. Once again, simple yet very memorable.

One of things I love about these programs especially when we get to the mid to late 1960s are the cast that make it into the production. Simply Media’s one sheet about these programs will point out the better known cast but I like to point out the cast that are not as well known but have made a major impact on television in general. As I mentioned Francesca Annis who has been in many things but one that has always leaped out to me was when she played Lillie. Neil McCarthy played Joe Gargery, Pips Brothr-In-Law. Neil has turned up in many great programs. Basically think of all the great programs of the 1960s into 1970s such as The Saint, The Avengers, Danger Man, Doctor Who, etc and he would have made an appearance. I have enjoyed everything I have ever seen him in. Other notables in this production is Peter Vaughn, Richard O’Sullivan, Hannah Gordon, Bernard Hepton, and Kevin Stoney. Honestly, this is an outstanding production. It is very well-realised.

Dombey And Son
2-DVD set  (Main Feature: 325 min)
Released by the Simply Media on July 3^rd, 2017. SRP £19.99 (DVD) 
Subtitles, 1.33:1, Mono Black & White

This is a Region 2 DVD only available from the UK and in the PAL format.

Just like Great Expectations, this is adapted by Hugh Leonard in 1969. Paul Dombey is a wealthy owner of the shipping company called Dombey And Son whose dream is to have a son to continue his business. The story begins when his son is born, and Dombey's wife dies shortly after giving birth. Following the advice of Mrs Louisa Chick, his sister, Dombey employs a wet nurse named Mrs Richards (Toodle). Never reading the book, this serial did not go the way I expected to from the very beginning. Paul Dombey starts off as a successful business man but is extremely flawed by his stubbornness of only acknowledging one of his children; the son he wants to take over his business and refuses to acknowledge his daughter who wants his love. That is a major mistake for him. One of the stories here is the journey of Paul Dombey and his eventual redemption.

If you have not read the book or seen any version of this, I will not go any further into it. That being said, it is a very great serial that in terms of production takes us all over the place to create this world from a long time ago. Not as gritty as Great Expectations it does take us into some Victorian seedy places. Once again, the opening credits are really interesting as it looks like one thing from the first episode but reveals to mean something different by the time we get to the later episodes.

I think in all three productions in this grouping of releases have strong characters but some of the characters in Dombey And Son really are outstanding. Possibly my favourite is Captain Cuttle played by William Moore is a blusterous personality who has a hook for one hand. On the other end of the spectrum is Lucretia Tox played by Pat Coombs. Pat, in my opinion, is one of the most under appreciated actors of the 1960s and 1970s. She has appeared in so many programs such as Hancock’s Half Hour, Up Pompeii, Till Death Us Do Part and many more. She is outstanding in this and your attention immediately moves to her when she is on the screen. Also in this adaptation is John Carson, Gary Raymond, Clive Swift, Moris Fahri, and John Scott Martin. Of course Roland Pickering who plays young Master Paul Dombey looks as though he was born to play a child in a Charles Dickens production.

The one question that hit me immediately about these productions was going to be video quality. These productions are obviously older. I don’t know if any restoration work has been done to them. My guess is that there isn’t but that doesn’t mean these don’t look good, in fact I am very impressed with what I found.  Our Mutual Friend is a telerecording of a live broadcast. If you have ever seen the release of the Quatermass serials, these episodes are better looking than Quatermass II but maybe not quite as strong as Quatermass and the Pit. I am just using those as examples. These are extremely watchable and to be honest, looks better than I expected it to look. Great Expectations is a telerecording from the videotape masters that no longer exist. Any of us who enjoy this type of television from this period of time knows what this will look like. The picture is very strong and sound is very clear. I guess what surprised me the most was Dombey And Son. These are from the 625 videotaped masters. It’s so much easier to assume that videotape masters do not exist for BBC programs from the 1960s but they exist in this case. They look great. There are some tape drop outs which I can understand but from the standpoint of someone who has a deep appreciation for television of this era and one who is keenly interested in how things are archived, this is unique. I love it! To me, this has been the highlight of three discs not just for the video quality but also I like this story the best. (EDITED TO ADD: I was corrected on a forum and double checked on TV Brain that 3 of the episodes are from the original videotape but the rest are telerceordings.)

These are fantastic discs. I think they work on multiple levels. The stories are very well realised and compelling. I think I would prefer these adaptations to anything made in later years. I think they are more realistic and in some cases they are filmed in some of the locations that would either have been around at the time the stories were written or what Dickens had in mind. So many of these old locations are long gone now but they weren’t in the 1960s. Plus just as a side note, I think the covers for all three of these releases are really stylish and stand out!

The other level is one that I personally look at as someone who loves this type of television from the 1960s. I treasure the fact that these are being released. I fear that programs from this era will either be forgotten or just released as a streaming service at lesser quality. If you are a fan of Dickens work, these are a must for your collection. If you are a fan of drama made by the BBC in their heyday of producing outstanding television….this is also a must for your collection. These three discs (sold individually) are Highly Recommended.

Who knows…..seeing that Simply Media released these three Dickens BBC productions including the wonderful 1958 Our Mutual Friend, perhaps they may be coaxed into releasing a set of Rudolph Cartier plays including one I really want to see in good quality, It’s Midnight, Dr. Scweitzer!

My next DVD review for Simply Media will be The Prince of Denmark starring Ronnie Corbett and Rosemary Leach and I can’t wait to watch it!

Do you have feedback, article requests or want to talk about a program but do not want to leave a public comment? Feel free to drop me an e-mail at FTA13867@gmail.com

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Michael Kitchen is Christopher Foyle!

If you have not seen any of Foyle’s War, please note that this article is very spoilerific and I will give away plot points to not only this episode but the series. If you do not want to be spoiled please do not read further or read at your own risk.

It is a little rare that I am writing about a series from the 21^st century. I am actually quite serious about this point and there is a reason for it. When I started writing this blog at the end of 2007, I was really not well-versed in anything that was made past the mid-1990s and I was OK with that. I had pretty much discounted everything from that period on and as more programs were coming out, I was getting further and further behind. At one time when my friends thought I really knew something about British television but now I was someone who completely lost track and just knew the “old programs”. Then Foyle’s War came along.

Although Foyle’s War started in 2002, it wasn’t until 2012 or so that I really ever gave it a chance and even that was not by choice. I had been writing this blog for some time and created a backlog of articles that are still available to read if you choose. I had decided that I wanted to get into the game of reviewing DVDs. I felt I had something to say and could write reasonably well. I didn’t want to do reviews on everything out there, I wanted to do reviews on British television releases, after all that is what the focus of this blog is, British television. That narrows things down a bit. I sent out letters to whoever’s name I could find that was related to companies that released British television media. I wanted to send them all examples of what I could write and see if they would be interested in letting me review their material.

I sent a note to the editor of DVDTalk to see if he would ever consider having me as reviewer on his site. He wrote back and had a better idea. He had wondered if I would be interested in starting my own article on their site and write about streaming British television. That was amazing; this was what I wanted.  We called it Brit-Streaming and the first studio we worked with was Acorn Media. They just launched Acorn TV and wanted us to write for them. I looked through their vast catalogue of material we could watch but there was a problem. All of these were new series! Nothing in it was archive vintage television which I knew so much about and it was outside my comfort zone. These were all contemporary series that were just made. What was I going to do with that? Then I saw Foyle’s War.

Being a consumer of Acorn Media’s output for some time, I couldn’t go far without seeing something about Foyle’s War in their advertising. Whether it was at a start of the DVDs or whatever, there was Michael Kitchen staring at me. Since I have been “followed” by Foyle’s War for so long, I decided to give it a shot for my new columm. New episodes were available for streaming. My first article of Brit-streaming was going to be about the World War II espionage series Foyle’s War. Series 6 was just released and I chose to write about the first episode of that series, The Russian House. The only problem was that Series 6 was the first series that took place after the war. They were mopping everything up, getting back to their lives. I missed the war! Whatever was I to do?

Plan of Attack TX: 06/01/08

We can get back to my dilemma in a little bit. Clearly, I have since seen all the episodes of Foyle’s War by now so for this outing, we randomly go to the start of Series 5 which is the series before my first outing with Christopher Foyle. At this stage in the series, it is clear that the war is ending soon. There is still much to do but the British government and its people know that Germany and Hitler do not have a lot of time left.

If you have not seen Foyle’s War, I would strongly suggest to take a look at it. To me Series 1-5 are the best. This deals directly with the war. The series is about Detective Chief Superintendent Christopher Foyle who is in charge of a station. What is unique about this series is that although it takes place during the war, it is not necessarily about battles and soldiers. It about Foyle capturing criminals who take advantage of the wartime through profiteering and other offenses. The city under his jurisdiction is seaside and it is active with the war effort with multiple facilities built there to combat the enemy. His second in command is Sergeant Paul Milner and Foyle’s driver is young girl named Sam. The only thing about all of this is that Foyle resigned from the police force at the end of Series 4, so what is going on?

There is a new DCS who has taken over since Foyle’s retirement, John Meredith, who doesn’t seem nearly as engaged as Foyle would have been. This is distressing enough for Milner to put in for transfer at another precinct. Foyle in the meantime has been working on a book he has been writing. With the help as Sam doing the typing, they are slowly getting through it. It appears Sam may not be the best typist around but Foyle is loyal to his friends and wants to make sure that she has some money coming in since she was let go from the station after Foyle resigned.

There is something else going on. There is a secret base near town doing some of the most top secret work of the war. The work is map making of parts of Germany using what information they have from the 1930s and any kind of reconnaissance imagery. No one knows it exists and no one is allowed to talk about it. Henry Scott, though,  is one person who works in this facility and he is a talented map maker but the problem is that he has a very hard time with the morality of working on maps that will kill people. In fact, he has befriended Father Keppler. Father Keppler can help him ease that pain of what he is doing for the war. The interesting thing about Keppler is that he is German. Came over to England during the late 1930s. He was running from speaking out about what was happening in his country with the Nazi influence. He had to give up his life and parish in Germany to be able to stay alive. Henry will sometimes share what he knows because he feels bad that this priest is having his country blasted away by the allies.

This is an interesting perspective that I never really heard of before I’d seen this episode. There is certainly a remorse from soldiers who kill their enemy or even having to kill innocent people for many different reasons, but I had never seen someone relatively removed from combat feel such remorse for what he had done. As mentioned above, he was very close to his faith and that is what was important to him. Even Father Keppler was more sympathetic to the Allies cause and understood innocent people sometime had to die, Henry was still resolute with his feelings. This theme goes a little deeper.

By the time this episode happens, we are very close to D-Day. This is the start of the final push to Berlin. There becomes a bigger theological discussion of the ethics of what is happening and how to punish one’s enemy. This “conversation” is being led by Bishop Francis Wood. This isn’t a popular stance in the UK during this period but he is holding a conference in Foyle’s area and bringing in other priests to discuss the ramifications of what he is doing.

Henry is not only over wrought by what is now happening in the war, he is unstable. He cannot look the woman he was close to, Jane, for something she had done; he refuses to even consider to forgive her for infidelity. Finally, it all weighs on him too heavily and it appears Henry has taken his on life. Christopher Foyle is no longer a commanding officer. His replacement, DCS Meredith, is now in charge. Milner has a suspect in for racketeering but is threatened by this person for arresting him. After that, Milner is nearly run down by a car but even worse, a night later, someone attempts to kill Milner by firing a gun at him. It just so happens that DCS Meredith gets in the way of the shot and is killed.

At the end of Series 4, AC Parkins (played by Michael Jayston) was making things difficult for Foyle which is why Foyle retired. Now, Parkins tracks Foyle down at the priestly summit that he is attending asking him to take up his old job. There is something really wonderful watching Michael Kitchen play Christopher Foyle. It was commented on Wikipedia that Foyle speaks with precision. I love that description and it is very true. Foyle doesn’t display a ton of emotion but you know what he is thinking, whether he is kidding or not or whether your opinion doesn’t matter to him. Foyle is very fair but don’t cross him. I don’t mean that as in he will come out to gain revenge but more like if you let him down or disappoint him, there is no return.

The plot for this story has a lot of layers to it. On the top layer, it looks like Henry is unstable and commits suicide while a racketeer boss ends up killing Meredith. What really is going on is that Henry knew a lot that was going on at Beverly Lodge which is where the map making is taking shape. Milner doesn’t think Henry committed suicide for a variety of reasons and when Foyle is back on then force, he seeks permission to start investigating at the lodge, which up to that point had been off-limits. There Foyle uncovers that the commanding officer, Foster, was covering up for someone else. This is not directly connected to what happened to Henry but it leads Foyle to the truth.

Foyle has this way of interrogating people almost in a similar vein as Columbo. What I mean by that is I feel there are a lot of times where Foyle knows the truth well before he let’s everyone else know. 
In some way, the line of questioning “toys” with the person who did the crime. It’s a mind game that’s fun to watch. Now, I’m not sure if that is true but it is a hypothesis of mine. So, when Foyle is at Beverly Lodge, he is talking to Richard Waterlow who was also doing an investigation at the lodge and looks through a binocular type object that shows two slightly different angles to a picture, making it look three dimensional. This is the clue that shows Foyle what is going on to solve the case.

Before Henry left Beverly Lodge to kill himself, he grabbed one of the photos of the location Father Keppler came from in Germany. He took the picture from the lodge which is illegal. Foyle realized what Henry did. Foyle goes to the church that Keppler is the priest at and confronts him. Foyle tells Keppler that he knows Keppler is not a priest but a German spy. Foyle explains that he knows Henry had trusted Keppler and gave him sensitive information on bombings as a way to clear his own conscience with God. Then, when Henry saw the photograph of the village Keppler is from, he notices one thing on the photo…..there is no church. Henry knew that Keppler was a fraud and that is why Keppler had to kill him but do so in a way that made it look like suicide. How does this tie in with DCS Meredith’s death? Everyone thought it was the racketeers that orchestrated this murder but this was also Keppler. Keppler had tried to kill Milner and not Meredith because Keppler had given the wrong information of where he was from and what parish he led in Germany while he was being questioned by Milner about Henry’s death. He knew this was easy to cross check and he needed to eliminate Milner.

Keppler called himself a patriot to Germany which is another call out to the messages we have been hearing all through out the episode. The idea of nothing is black & white or straight forward. We live on the side of what the Nazis and the rest of the Axis did during World War II was abhorrent, they believed what they were doing was correct. As Foyle arrests Keppler to bring him out of the church, Keppler pulls a gun on him to shoot Foyle. Foyle literally turns around to walk out telling Keppler to get his affairs in order, Keppler did and commits suicide.

I had forgotten how much I enjoyed Foyle’s War. This is a tremendously well-made series that has a lot of great detail in the design and history of lesser known aspects of the war. It’s interesting with the direction the episode goes. It starts out about a man’s faith, I noted when I watched it that faith is very important to people during the war but there is a flipside to it. During the episode, DCS Meredith is having dinner with his wife. He is trying to have a conversation with her but she is unresponsive and uncaring. It isn’t until after his death we find out that their two young sons were killed in the line of duty just months apart. Later in the episode, Rev Stuart (Sam’s uncle we meet earlier) checks in on Meredith’s wife to see how she is doing after her husband’s death. She explains in no uncertain terms that faith is no longer important to her since both of her children were killed and has no compassion at all for the general population of Germany and what is coming their way. I am fairly confident that this is one instance of many.

The characters and cast are quite good in this. Apart from the regulars, we have Malcolm Sinclair playing Father Keppler. I have seen Sinclair in a number of things but most notably for me he played Freddy Fisher in Pie in the Sky, and was also in the opening to the James Bond film Casino Royale. As mentioned earlier, he played the German priest though sometimes his accent sounded more French than German to me. Henry’s girlfriend Jane was played by Fiona Glascott. She is somewhat tortured by what happened to Henry and it looks like she has been permanently crying through out the episode. We have such great actors as Michael Jayston and even Clifford Rose as Bishop Francis Wood who himself played in another famous wartime series as Kessler in The Secret Army.

One thing I forgot about these episode is that they were shot on film at this time of production. On DVD, you can see the grain and with the production values being so high, watching this episode is a very enjoyable experience. The music is wonderful and was composed by Jim Parker. Jim had done music for such series as The House of Cards and Midsomer Murders. I am a big fan of the work of Jim Parker and I will be listening to the Foyle’s War soundtrack soon. I want to do so for a couple of reasons: I know the music is good but at the same time, apart from the actual theme, I can’t actually remember what I hear that makes me say it is so good and I want to be able to do so. That being said, my favourite work of his is the music for The House of Cards. Every last note. It is incredible and I am really disappointed that we never got a soundtrack of that music.

I watched this from the SD DVD. Like I said above, it looks great but with it being shot on a film, it would be nice to see it in HD.  The series was shot on 16mm. It looks like the set is sold on Blu-ray from Australia but I don’t know if it is true HD or an upres of the existing SD masters. When I go to a retailer like Amazon in Australia, it doesn’t show up there. There is a just a dealer selling it on Amazon.co.uk so I think I will stick to my DVDs.

What about Brit-streaming on DVDTalk? Even though I picked an episode of the series that took place after the war was over, I still enjoyed it though I wouldn’t recommend that is where people start their viewing of the series. Things started moving for me. At the same time that DVDTalk gave me the opportunity to write, Acorn Media got in touch with me to write reviews of their discs. Once I accepted, they sent me my first title which was the new version of the Forsythe Saga. Then I started reviewing the Agatha Christie's Poirot episodes. At the time this was happening, the BBC got back to me and said they loved my writing and said I could review their content too. The only problem was that I was in the US as I contacted the UK arm. I did more research to find contacts in the US for the BBC and they allowed me to review their content. Then if that wasn’t enough, BFI and Network allowed me to review their material.

The funny thing is that I’ve read people comment to me saying they didn’t know that studios let “blogs” do reviews. Well, why not?The sad thing is now I don’t have time to do the reviews like I used to have back in the day. I turn down opportunities to review because I want to make sure I do good thorough reviews and not run through them quickly. Maybe I will one day soon. I only tell this story because it’s the old adage, “when it rains, it pours” or “careful for what you wish for as it might come true”. It was an amazing, exciting time as I did the research of who to talk to  at the studios to allow me to review and sent about 10 of my favourite articles I wrote as examples. Since then, I’ve had many people e-mail me and ask for the names of my contacts at these studios so they can do reviews too. I go to their sites and they have no articles written. Right or wrong, I never reply. I did the due diligence of researching who I should talk to and also had a large catalog of articles even before I reached out. Sometimes you need to work hard to get what you want.

I am extremely proud of my reviews and it all started with John at DVDTalk who gave me a chance. Thanks John! If you have never read one of my actual reviews of a DVD site, why not try reading my review of the massive Foyle’s War Homefront Files set.

Next time: For some reason we celebrate Christmas in August with an episode from the Ghost Stories for Christmas Collection: The Treasure of Abbot Thomas.

Have a great week!

 Do you have feedback, article requests or want to talk about a program but do not want to leave a public comment? Feel free to drop me an e-mail at FTA13867@gmail.com

I am on Twitter: @FromtheArchive Please follow and re-tweet these article if you like them.

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Harold Steptoe Finally Wins!

I’m not going to lie. I have a fairly comprehensive collection of British television with titles being added all the time. Even though the last couple of months have been mostly about other ventures and interests, I have taken a lot of time to continue watching the series that I love.

I am sure this is the same for a lot of other people too but those shows that we loved and watched over and over from years ago sometimes start to fade away a little when our focus points to new shows. Shows like AreYou Being Served?, ‘Allo! ‘Allo! or Keeping Up Appearances were once shows I watched religiously but slowly just ended up going to the bottom of the pile. Even Black Adder is one that used to be on constant circulation in my house is now rarely watched. I don’t like these series any less but with each purchase of new series I hadn’t seen before such as Dr. Finlay’s Casebook, Softly Softly: Taskforce or even Z Cars this becomes the norm to the point that I need to force myself to watch some of these wonderful gems I haven’t seen in a while.

The same could be said about Steptoe and Son. Back in the mid to late 1990s, I was getting VHS tapes from friends in the UK and was lapping it up. This is truly quality British television that worked on many more levels than I think the populace realised. It was, like the titles above, something I watched so much that I just moved away from it. I always felt disappointed because I had all these series on VHS from friends long before DVD and once they came out on DVD, I never watched them. I should have been watching them more because they were in better quality but I didn’t. I kept getting these to keep up with them coming out but would get series I only heard about before but never seen and watched those. In fact the only times I have recently watched Steptoe and Son was when I wrote the articles for them on this site here and here.

A Christmas Holiday TX 26/12/74

To even start talking about this episode, we need to first discuss the title of this story. This is the type of minutia that I really enjoy. Unlike most of the other episodes of Steptoe and Son, this episode has no on screen title. That is rather strange to me since everything else seems to have an appropriate title. So the next place to look is to see what is listed on the DVD. The DVD lists this episode as A Perfect Christmas. When I looked at that, I thought that didn’t really feel that sounded like a simpson/galtonesque episode title so I was dubious about it. Finally, I went to my handy dandy Kaleidoscope Comedy guide that tells me also sorts of fun facts about episodes not least what format these episodes exists on. That guide lists this episode as A Christmas Holiday and lists A Perfect Christmas as an alt title. Does that mean A Perfect Christmas title had shown up in production paperwork? In any case, I decided to use the title that Kaleidoscope list in their amazing publication.

It’s Christmas at Oil Drum Lane and Albert is decorating their home. It’s just the simple streamers and occasional decorations in their drab home. Harold comes home and as soon as he sees the room, he starts ripping into it. He uses a great amount of sarcasm to get his point across about the room and lack of decoration. At one point he tells his father that coming into the room with a few streamers in it reminds him of “the transformation scene from Cinderella”. This is what sends Albert into a tizzy and he goes around tearing down all of the decorations and swears at Harold.

There is a reason that Harold is acting this way. Instead of sitting at home over the holidays in that room watching telly with his Dad and getting into arguments, he wants to go on holiday. And he wants to bring his Dad with him!  He doesn’t want to sit and watch Z Cars or Coronation Street which both get a mention. Nor does he want to watch Cliff Richards. He wants to go somewhere exotic. When watching this, I thought it was nice that Harold wanted to bring his Dad along on the holiday. I also wondered something that I had thought about for a while…..how do they afford these things?

Being a rag and bone man and pretty much owning a junk yard is not going to make you a millionaire. It’s hard labourious work that lends little monetary results. That is, unless you are I.M. Foreman and own the junkyard (at 76 Totters Lane) that made it’s first appearance in the first episode of Doctor Who and then showed up 3 more times including The Day of the Doctor from 2013, that actually appears to be a remarkably successful junk yard lasting for so long! But looking at Steptoe and Son, they don’t seem to be doing that well yet they are always getting amazing stuff. Such as a fancy new car, a professional billiards table, water beds, new bathroom, etc. At least in this episode, we get an answer to how they can afford the holiday.

Lucky for Harold, Albert loves to swear and Harold just so happens to have a swear jar. Every time either of them swear, 10p goes into the jar. It’s not so much a jar but a collection bank molded as a couple of dogs. Maybe that’s how they bankrolled a lot of these other things because Albert has such a potty mouth!

As far as the scope of the holiday is concerned, it looks like Harold is open to pretty much anything in the world. The world is literally their oyster. Albert, on the other hand, is a lot more critical. He would just prefer to go to Bognor. He was treated well there when he’s been there before. Harold thought it would be nice to go to Acapulco but Albert thinks he is talking about acupuncture! Albert doesn’t want to go to France because when he was last there it was muddy and full of trenches. That was back in World War I.

Series 8 of Steptoe and Son that ran just before this special is among my favourites of the entire series but a lot of it is more outlandish and in some ways far-fetched. Episodes include a fashion show or Albert and Harold competing for popularity in the same stage production. This episode is very simple basic Steptoe and Son. Most of the episode takes place in their house with the two of them bickering back and forth. What makes this interesting is that this episode might be even more serious than we have seen before now.

There are a few references by Harold in this episode to explain how disturbed he was brought up by his father. These are generally not outright comments but mainly side comments Harold would say almost under his breath.  A couple of examples would be when Harold is messing about and Albert tells him “You’re living in a dream world!” with Harold responding regrettably, “It’s better than here.” It could have been delivered as a pure comedy moment but that is not the direction it took. It was delivered almost invisibly where Albert didn’t hear it…..or ignored it.

The other comment that caught my attention was more interesting to me. They were talking about the space under the stairs where Albert may have kept his birth certificate that he needs to get an updated passport. Harold mentions to Albert that Albert was always at the pub during the blitz bombings during World War II. Albert said that Harold was alright though since he put Harold under the stairs during the blitz where it was pitch black. Harold then says, “I’ve never forgiven you for that.” That was such a powerful statement and delivered in such a hurtful way. If you think about it, Harold as a characer was always younger than Harry H. Corbett who played Harold. They were still trying to pass him as a man in his late 20s or possibly early 30s even when the series came to an end. So Harold would have been very, very young. Probably under the age of 5 with these bombs going off around him and his father disappearing for no reason. It would be horrible. Suddenly, I got a lot more insight into Harold Steptoe than I ever did before. Harold is probably a lot more messed up than I ever realised and he had been really hurt by his father. I think I always took the series at face value of a grown man who wanted his own independence but never really thought about the mental turmoil he went through growing up. It is really great to see how many levels this series played at even for its final episode.

Albert has his own problems. Once the birth certificate is found Harold uncovers the truth of his father. His father has no idea who his own father ever was. In fact, Albert had a picture of his mom on the wall in their house. Next to that picture is another picture that Harold always thought was his dad but turned out to be Prime Minister Gladstone.

There is still a lot of discussion about where the two should go for their holiday. Harold brings up Australia and they think about it and decide not to go. No mention is made Harold’s step brother from there. Of course the series has never been great on continuity. How many horses names Hercules did they have over the series? They also think about Denmark until Harold brings up the live sex shows there. According to Harold, the live sex shows are like pantomime is to the UK!

They decide to go to Switzerland. They get everything together and go to the train station to get on a train that will itself get on a boat to bring them over. As they get ready to show their passports, someone did not have the correct passport and is stopped from continuing on to the train. Surprisingly, it’s not Albert but Harold! The two get into an argument and of course although Albert didn’t want to travel any way, he decides that he will go on holiday and leave Harold behind in the UK. Harold lost again. Or did he?

Harold makes his way sadly out of the train station looking back and seeing his father board the train. As Harold lumbers out of the train station, a sporty car pulls up with a sexy lady in the driver’s seat. Harold gets in car and excitedly yells, “He went for it! “ Harold planned it this way the whole time just to get Albert out of his hair so he can spend time with this girl. Guess what? They’re going to Bognor. Guess what else? Harold finally won!

The Radio Times listing. Not much fanfare
for being a new episode of one of their
classic series. 

The feeling of this episode is, to me, like no other. It’s been years since I have seen it. To be honest, I probably haven’t seen this since the late 1990s. It’s a little darker tone that I think gets a little ignored. By this time, the series is pretty much laughs only. Although this is not a departure from this, it certainly has a different feel for me. It certainly feels more in line with the earlier black & white episodes. It’s nice to see that they moved away from some of the more extravagant plotlines of later series. Even the end credits didn’t have the usual cut away to both stars, their names just appeared on screen. There was a sort of finality with this episode though I might be thinking that in hindsight.

There is a longer cut of this episode by about 4 minutes but what has been included on the DVD is the broadcast version. The longer version was originally included on the VHS before that was recalled from stores. This episode fared better than the 1973 Christmas special, A Christmas Party, which had a shorter version of the episode included on this DVD and was not corrected for the boxset. If you want to see the longer version of this episode, check on YouTube. It’s there.

This is the final episode of Steptoe and Son. After 12 years and 8 series the series did not return although Harry H. Corbett and Wilfrid Brambell continued to record the radio versions of the episodes for another 2 years. This is one of my favourite series and I have seen many of these episodes many times. I am happy that I am still finding new things about it. If you haven’t watched it, give it a shot. It’s worth it.

Our friend Richard Latto works for BBC Radio Solent where he is a Producer and Presenter. He sent me a note this week of a filmed interview with Harold H. Corbett probably right before this episode of Steptoe and Son aired. It’s kind of magical and I didn’t want to see it end. It’s a shame that these DVD releases are vanilla with no extras. Something like this is perfect and I have never seen it before. Check it out for yourself here. Thank you Richard for alerting us to this little gem! 

Next week: Just because it is a Christmas episode it doesn’t mean it has to be about Christmas. We look at the Doc Martin feature length episode On the Edge!

Have a great week!

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