RIP Jack Smethurst

89 years old.....

https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/breaking-jack-smethurst-dead-love-26250492

Damn shame Love Thy Neighbour isn't dared to be shown as he was hilarious in it. His on screen chemistry with Rudolph Walker was a joy to watch. Rudolph still going strong too in Eastenders for the past two decades.

 

Damn shame?

One of the most racist tv shows ever broadcast.

 

RIP….

 

Rudolph Walker says it best.....

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2001/oct/22/tvandradio.television1

 

He's talking utter **** there, saying the scripts of Love Thy Neighbour had nothing to do with colour...

 

He even once went on Bargain Hunt with his daughter in law.

 

Did you actually watch it? The white guy was portrayed as a stupid bigot and his racism almost always backfired on him.

 

His daughter in law has tweeted about it.

 

Ahh, that silly racist, doh!

 

You’re kidding, right?

 

As I remember it, it’s main theme was to illustrate the idiocy of white bigotry , yes it used racist terms but only what were in common usage at the time.
The character he played nearly always came off worst and was shown up, although if I remember right the black male character ( Rudolph Walker) was also racist at a lower level.
The two wives became friends and were the voices of reason trying to show the blokes the error of their ways.
It was a well intentioned programme and very popular at the time and offscreen the actors used to expand on that idiocy in interviews etc.
You couldn’t repeat it now because of the names and terms used that have now passed thankfully into history , but as I said were commonly used across the country at the time.
Different times.

 

I take it you never actually watched it then ?

 

I , in part, disagree, but for a specific reason....

Accepted....There were a number of programmes that at the time were popular but now are clearly unacceptable by modern standards e.g. Michael Bates blacked up as Rangi Ram in 'it ain't 'alf Hot Mum to name but one.

However, the current generation rush in to criticise currently out of favour series like 'Fawlty Towers', 'Rising Damp', and going even further back ' Til Death do us part' with the totally racist, misogynist, obnoxious caricature that was Alf Garnett (who was countered by his long suffering wife and the socialist anti-racist Anthony Booth playing his son-in-Law and Una Stubbs as his daughter representing the balanced majority view. Much of what is construed as racism is judged by modern attitudes. Ignorance and misunderstanding and lack of awareness was (and still is far more widespread than overt, intentional prejudice) .

In many respects then, it important to recognise that these 'shows' were the Vanguard of much of the comedy and drama that we now see, in that, rather than ignoring the race issues, however crudely, made a sincere attempt to confront them head on. Yes, most of it lacked subtlety but in all but a few cases much of the comedy, far from reinforcing people's ignorance, actually shone a light on it using humour (in the same way many of the stand-up comedians are doing now).

In all four examples, Eddie Booth, basil Fawlty, Rigsby, and Alf Garnett are shown to be racist, mysoginist, and held up to ridicule. Their counterparts compare favourably. Educated, tolerant, likeable .

Nevertheless, whilst the writers of 'Rising Damp', 'Fawlty Towers' and' 'til Death Do Us Part' , IMHO, highlighted the stupid, illogical and irrational evils of racism, Love Thy neighbour was a complete 'misfire'!...........

The big problem for me, was that the 'race issue' was completely mis-handled by 'whitewashing 'the Reynolds into a semi-middle class couple with no references to their ethnicity or culture. The clashes between white working class/middle class i.e. Booths vs Reynolds therefore reinforced the skin colour/ prejudice ( 'they' come over 'ere taking out jobs..!!!), in spite of the fact they usually resulted with Eddie Booth ending up with 'egg on his face'. It made no attempt to cover the prejudices and day to day struggles a black couple living in a white, London suburb must have experienced.

I think the whole Sitcom scene on both ITV and BBC at the time was caught in a South East / London Centric Suburban bubble . The God awful, Terry and June' (where the number of times the word 'darling' cropped up in the script ran to hundreds), 'The Good Life' Set in Surbiton, highlights that. Love Thy Neighbour writers completely failed to break out of those constraints and we ended up with a Sitcom that just happened to feature a couple with black skin. They might just as well have been white.

Was it "one of the most racist shows ever broadcast" as JT believes? No or not at least IMO. I believe there was a complete failure to achieve what it set out to do and instead completely misrepresented the ethnic minorities real life situations. Nothing new there! But there were far more serious intentional racist examples out there, particularly amongst a number of stand up comics who were given regular air-time on TV.

Much criticism of '70s values is justified but sometimes people 'virtue signal' and/or completely misconstrue the content, 'The Major' in Fawlty Towers being one example, as was 'The Germans' episode.

Parody and satire are very useful weapons in the war against misogyny and racism as long as people recognise them as such!

 

Yep. Was classed as a sitcom. Wasnt actually funny. Same with Mind your language. Just using racial stereotypes.

 

Rubbish , it was actually very funny & actually highlighted racism

 

Each to their own. Opinions eh. I respect ypurs however I'm sticking with mine.

 

All the above self opinionated comments and viewpoints.... what has all that got to do with a man who has just died?
Next thing youll be saying youre glad he's dead.
RIP to anyone who dies.

 

I suppose the argument can be made that the racists were the butt of the joke and so, notwithstanding the unacceptable language, these comedies might not actually be as troublesome as more recent comedies such as Little Britain and Bo Selecta where racial stereotyping was played for laughs without any deeper context.

However I've no doubt that at the time some of the audience will have found the racist bits to be the funny element regardless of intention.

 

RIP sir.

 

We saw Al Murray in Scunthorpe pre-pandemic. I’d say over half the audience were clearly missing the irony. To the point my Mrs said it was too often uncomfortable.

Id guess it’s highly regionalised, and a Leeds or Manchester audience would be majority understanding what the joke actually was.