Steptoe and Son

1960s British tv sitcom

Father and son run together "rag and bone" business (buying and selling old junk) and they don’t really get along - father is grumpy and doesn’t want to change anything, while his son wants something better from life.

Albert Edward Ladysmith Steptoe and his son, Harold Albert Kitchener Steptoe, run a distinguished company called Steptoe and Son. Well, distinguished is not the best word for it, they run a scrapyard, or rather rag-and-bone business - they buy what other people want to throw out and try to sell it with some profit. It is not a glamorous occupation, it does not provide a lot of profit, but it is a family business with traditions. And for Harold is his personal prison - he tries to improve himself, he reads a lot, he collects classical music records, he wants to see the world. His father on the other hand is used to this dull, dirty job and tries every trick in the book to stop Harold from leaving home.

Two men - father and son - living in decrepit house in the middle of scrapyard and arguing about almost everything. Doesn’t sound like a good idea for a sitcom, right? Well at least not for a long one. But surprisingly Steptoe and Son is very entertaining show with combination of good cast and good scripts. Just like case of Only When I Laugh the number of characters is very limited, number of locations is very limited, the variety of situations is very limited, but it isn’t spoiling the fun - watching Brambell and Corbett together is enough to fill the episodes even when nothing seemingly is happening.

Just like in other comedy series from same era we have here a bitter-sweet relationship between father and son (although more bitter than sweet in that case), who take care of each other even when they can’t stand each other. Some of the episodes are a little bit below par, but overall it is comedy classic worth at least to know. And once you get to know it you most likely will fall in love with it.

Rating	6.4
Funny	7 / 10
Entertaining	4 / 5
Characters	3 / 5
Nonrepetitive	2 / 5