Talk:Steptoe and Son

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Contents 1 Removal of anecdote about Harold Wilson 2 Homosexuality? 3 Is unquestionably parent of Sanford and Son 4 Scandinavian adaptions 5 Love or Hate? 6 Tense

[edit] Removal of anecdote about Harold Wilson

I removed an anecdote claiming Harold Wilson had pushed for a change to the programme transmission time on the night of the 1964 General Election. Wilson was not PM in 1964 - so that could not have taken place as described. This anecdote should be checked against the transmission dates to see if it could apply to the 1966 General Election. Davidpatrick 07:36, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

I just trawled NewsBank and found repeated references to the story. According to various papers, it happened in 1964 ... 1966 ... 1970 ...! Tearlach 17:56, 30 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Homosexuality?

I seem to remember reading, ages ago when one of them died(?) or maybe the play started?, there was a lot about them in the news and that one of them was a "closet" homosexual and the other hated them for it. (being about six-eleven? at the time I really cant remember much. I can't seem to find any references. Wolfmankurd 16:08, 30 April 2007 (UTC)

Covered at Wilfrid Brambell. Apparently the tension between them wasn't just about that: Corbett came to resent the partnership, as he had theatrical aspirations that had wrecked by being typecast, plus Brambell's alcoholism made him seriously difficult to work with. Tearlach 16:24, 30 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Is unquestionably parent of Sanford and Son

This article definitely has a need for greater references. The one thing that doesn't need to be cited, however, is its status as the basis for Sanford and Son. This fact is in the credits on each episode of Sanford, so if you wanna start citing obvious facts like this, then you're, logically, gonna have to cite references to the creators of this series, cast member's names, and other extremely basic, incontrovertible truths about the series which can be obtained simply by watching an episode. CzechOut 07:15, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

Not really - creators and cast and everything are obviously going to crop up a lot in any sources we cite, and they're all right there in the Guardian link. Wikipedia is all about verifiability, and we should to give other readers an easy way to verify the Sanford and Son link (easier than "just go and find an episode of Sanford and watch the credits"). I'll dig something out. --McGeddon 08:28, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Scandinavian adaptions

Galton & Simpson are frequently translated and adapted by Scandinavian television. Steptoe and Son were the basis of the popular Swedish TV series Albert & Herbert (1974–82), situated in Gothenburg, Sten-Åke Cederhök and Thomas von Brömsen (Lennart Lundh in the first 6 episodes) playing the father and son. The series were directed by Bo Hermansson. He also directed the Norwegian film Skraphandlerne (1975), starring Leif Juster and Tom Tellefsen – based on his own adaption of G & S's material. Hermansson also directed the Norwegian TV series Fleksnes (1972–88), based on G & S's Hancock's Half Hour (for the 2002 anniversary shows G & S wrote new original scripts). -- Linkomfod 19:30, 6 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Love or Hate?

The article has this passage of text - Galton and Simpson toyed with the concept of killing Albert off. .... The character would have been replaced with Harold's illegitimate son, ... . This idea was detested by Corbett, who thought it ridiculous.

But a scene in The Curse of Steptoe shows Corbett reacting to the idea by saying "brilliant, this is what it needs, character progression" I know it was a drama but it is a clear contradiction of the text in the article and one of them is wrong. - X201 (talk) 10:36, 20 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Tense

This edit by McGeddon made me jump a bit because against what I believe to be our general consensus on writing about fictional works he seemed to be changing the tense to past (Jason Isaacs played Harry H. Corbett and Phil Davis portrayed Wilfrid Brambell, and the work was part of a series). Then I looked at the rest of the article and I noticed that it's nearly all written in the past tense. I confess that I wouldn't know where to go to find out these things, but it does seem odd to write in the past tense about a finished rendition of a work of art or popular entertainment which is extant. Homer tells me about the fall of Ilium and the peregrinations of the king of Ithaca and the trials of his faithful wife. Jason Isaacs portrays the Steptoe actor and will always do so as long as the information representing the portrayal is available, perhaps in forms as yet unimagined, somewhere. I think present tense may be the most appropriate form here. --Anticipation of a New Lover's Arrival, The 19:35, 31 March 2008 (UTC)

I've gone through the article and changed tense where appropriate. I also rearranged some content into sections, but it could still possibly do with one or two tweaks. Chris 42 (talk) 21:17, 31 March 2008 (UTC)

Sorry, I thought it was present tense for plot and past tense for production details (of anything that wasn't an ongoing series), but I may have been misremembering the style guide. The present tense seems fine as written. --McGeddon (talk) 15:59, 1 April 2008 (UTC)

No problem. We can revisit this later if necessary. --Anticipation of a New Lover's Arrival, The 18:59, 1 April 2008 (UTC)