STEPTOE AND SON 1962 B/W TV Comedy Season 4 - Episode 4 The Siege of Steptoe Street

Steptoe and Son is a British comedy sitcom written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson about a father-and-son rag-and-bone business in 24 Oil Drum Lane, a fictional street in Shepherd's Bush, London. The lead roles were played by Wilfrid Brambell (Albert Steptoe), and Harry H. Corbett (Harold Steptoe). The series focused on the inter-generational conflict of father and son. Albert Steptoe, a "dirty old man", is an elderly rag-and-bone man, set in his grimy and grasping ways. By contrast, his son Harold is filled with social aspirations and pretensions. The show contained elements of drama and tragedy, as Harold was continually prevented from achieving his ambitions. Both of the main actors used voices considerably different from their own. Brambell, despite being Irish, spoke with a received pronunciation English accent, as did the Manchester-raised Corbett. Brambell was aged 49 when he accepted the role of Albert, only 13 years older than Corbett. For his portrayal, he acquired a second set of "rotten" dentures to accentuate his character's poor attitude to hygiene. In this episode The Siege of Steptoe Street, the Steptoes have to defend their home from numerous businessmen with court orders after they run up one too many bills. This was a excellent programme, the two main characters worked so well off each other considering away from the cameras, as stated many times the two actors hardly ever socialised and seldom spoke.