Controversy Continues

A BBC4 biodrama about the lives of the actors portraying beloved stars of seminal sitcom "Steptoe and Son". Jason Isaacs earned a BAFTA nomination for his portrayal of Harry H. Corbett! First aired 19 March, 2008.

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kjshd05
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Controversy Continues

Post by kjshd05 » Wed Dec 22, 2010 10:44 am

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvan ... aints.html


"BBC withdraws Steptoe and Son documentary after complaints"

glad I saw this before all the editing took place

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thunder
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Re: Controversy Continues

Post by thunder » Wed Dec 22, 2010 1:50 pm

Glad I got hold of that DVD in time, then. It's nice of the brother to take care of his sister's memory, but I think he is over reacting a bit.

BTW, I think the unedited version is still on You Tube.

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Re: Controversy Continues

Post by Angel Tavington » Wed Dec 22, 2010 3:20 pm

glad I saw this before all the editing took place
Yep, me too!


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grannybear
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Re: Controversy Continues

Post by grannybear » Wed Dec 22, 2010 5:24 pm

Never saw it. Was waiting for region 1 to come out here in the States. Oh well !! maybe someday.

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Hilary the Touched
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Re: Controversy Continues

Post by Hilary the Touched » Wed Dec 22, 2010 6:33 pm

Wow. Imagine if everyone reacted like this--we'd never get to see anything.
"The Product Review Board have examined the evidence and determined that the Iron Chef's omelet was, in fact, neither as fluffy as depicted nor as low in cholesterol as implied. This program must be withdrawn."

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Re: Controversy Continues

Post by Angel Tavington » Wed Dec 22, 2010 6:52 pm

ROFL!!


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grannybear
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Re: Controversy Continues

Post by grannybear » Wed Dec 22, 2010 10:13 pm

Oh! Hilary! That's good. Really good.

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Re: Controversy Continues

Post by fruitbat » Wed Dec 22, 2010 10:32 pm

So, what I just watched on youtube, was that the original version? Jason was excellent, as usual. I remember watching the US version of S&S, "Sandford and Son"; my grandmother loved it.

Regarding the controversy, a similar thing happened with the biopic of a Canadian politician, "Prairie Giant: the Tommy Douglas Story". The family of one of the people depicted complained and the CBC withdrew it from further broadcasts. I thought there were certain bizarre elements such as the complete non-existence of TD's adopted daughter. And for the Canadians here, the casting of Paul Gross as Diefenbaker. Image

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Helen8
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Re: Controversy Continues

Post by Helen8 » Thu Dec 23, 2010 1:15 am

The squeaky wheel . . . :roll:

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Re: Controversy Continues

Post by SaraR » Thu Jan 06, 2011 3:26 pm

Like fruitbat said, I was looking around on ye olde dreaded YT last night, and was actually able to find the entire movie. (I won't post a link just out of general decency, but it's pretty easy to find when you search.) Since this is basically the only way I figure I'll be able to watch it for a while, I went ahead and did view it, and thought it was very good. I don't really have a background on the actual show, so I looked at it more like a study of a time period and character interaction. I feel like it's a nice bit of freedom from being tied to facts and knowing too much about a particular story or line of events. Sometimes that can really wreck a story.

Anyway though, Jason's performance was brilliant, the transformation of his character really blew my mind, and I'm glad I had the opportunity to sit down and watch this, even if it was just a bit fuzzy on my laptop. :)

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Re: Controversy Continues

Post by Heather » Fri Jan 07, 2011 2:11 pm

The Steptoe And Son Movie [Steptoe And Son Ride Again] was on over Christmas and I can safely say that it is probably one of very few comedy films from the 70's that still makes me laugh, the rest all seem to be full of racism, smut and appalling sexist attitudes towards women. The very worst of these was a "Sit Com" called On The Buses, the two lead [male] characters were the most unappealing middle aged men you can imagine and yet they [supposedly] attracted these beautiful ladies, it was so unrealistic and the laughs were few and far between AND they are still running repeats to this day.

This is off topic but I thought I would tell you all. The BBC are getting hundreds of complaints every day at the moment about a storyline they are running in Eastenders [a BBC Soap] Two women [Kat and Ronnie] gave birth to baby boys a few days apart, Kat had to go back to hospital because she had some problems related to her delivery so she left her baby Tommy at home [an apartment above the pub she and her husband run] with her dad and auntie, in the meantime Ronnies baby James dies [cot death] so does she phone for an ambulance or go and get some help? No she wanders over to the pub with her dead baby in her arms, hears baby Tommy crying, sneaks in and swaps her dead baby for Kats Tommy. No one recognises the fact that the dead baby is James and not Tommy so now Kat and her husband Alfie are grieving for Tommy who is very much alive and living at Ronnies and are about to bury baby James.

People are up in arms! Mainly at the potrayal of women who have lost babies to cot death as baby snatching, raving lunatics, the actress who plays Ronnie has been spat at and verbally abused when she has been out with her children and it looks like the script writers are going to have to cut the story short, they were going to keep it going until Christmas but they are losing so many of their viewers they are really worried.

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Re: Controversy Continues

Post by SaraR » Fri Jan 07, 2011 2:55 pm

Oh my god, that is horrible! :shock: Shows in the US have lots of dodgy plot lines, but that takes the cake right there.

At least they're going to stop it. I wonder what kind of moron even thought that was a good idea in the first place...

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Re: Controversy Continues

Post by Helen8 » Fri Jan 07, 2011 5:31 pm

Good gosh, Heather. That's almost mild compared to what's happened on a soap here. A psychopath was "gaslighting" a woman, which caused her to lose the baby she was carrying. He made her so crazy that she wasn't even aware that she had had a spontaneous abortion, which he covered up. She continued to believe that she was still pregnant. The woman's step daughter (who was also pregnant) and she ended up in a medical facility at the same time they were about to deliver. The two woman were tranquilized; the step daughter gave birth to her baby; the psychopath took that baby and gave it the woman, making her think that it was hers; and he told the step daughter that her baby was stillborn. So step mom was raising her step grandchild; step daughter grieved the loss of her baby. Believe it or not, it was finally resolved, baby went back to real mother, but the psychopath got away with it. :shock:
He's in jail now for something he didn't actually do, but who cares?





And now back to The Curse of Steptoe.

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Hilary the Touched
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Re: Controversy Continues

Post by Hilary the Touched » Fri Jan 07, 2011 6:03 pm

OMG, Heather--bloody EastEnders!! I was quite amazed that first time I saw that show--television programs about people who weren't impossibly rich and glamourous were few and far between in the U.S. 20 years ago. That was before reality shows, of course, but I was quite taken aback to see main characters who *worked* for a living.
But now that you mention it, it's not exactly a documentary, is it??
I remember when my baby was born, looking at her little face in the hospital and wondering HOW on EARTH anyone ever goes home with the wrong baby???? I know they look a lot alike to strangers, but I can't imagine I could anymore have mistaken my baby for another than gone home with somebody else's husband. :hit I mean really.

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Re: Controversy Continues

Post by Angel Tavington » Fri Jan 07, 2011 8:12 pm

Heather, that's a ridiculous storyline! Good Lord, what were the writers thinking? LOL And they are worried because they are losing many viewers...I'm not surprised, what do they expect? A huge success on BBC? I mean, come on LOL


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